Mutant Manor: Generation 15
by Motor City Mistress
Summary: Some new mutants arrive at the Institute. The mutants we know and love have either left or have become teachers. by X23 Maximoff. implied Romy, Jonda, Xietro
1. New Arrivals

-Chapter 1: New Arrivals-

Professor Xavier slowly wheeled through the empty mansion on a calm

Saturday, August afternoon. True, it wouldn't be empty for long, but it

was still unnerving. All of his first students had grown up and grew out

of the mansion. Many stayed to teach the incoming mutants, who would be

here for safety and an education. 12 mutants so far were coming, but

Xavier expected more throughout the year. There weren't many schools like

this.

He heard laughter from the rec room, where all of the new teachers

were. He wheeled on towards there.

"Attention, everyone." he said. The room quieted immediately. "The

students will be arriving soon. I would like you all to show them to their

rooms. Girls to the right, boys to the left." he said. All the teachers

nodded. The second floor was still bedrooms, splitting off at the top

of the central stairs. A middle wing had been formed for the few

teachers who had lived at the mansion before and still wished to. The wings on

the first floor had been redone to be classrooms.

His thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing from the gate. He

quickly went and pushed the intercom button.

"Please come in. The front door will be unlocked when you get here." he

said, opening the gate. A few minutes later, he heard the front door

open and went to greet his new student.

She was small, wearing dark clothes that covered most of her skin. With

dark makeup and hair, she rather reminded Xavier of what Rogue used to

be like.

"Hello. My name is Charles Xavier. Welcome to my school for the

Gifted."

"Is that your spiffy way of saying mutant school?" the girl asked.

Professor Xavier sighed.

"You could say that. May I ask your name?"

"Julia Shear."

"Very nice. And your mutation?"

"Poison skin." she spat out. Clearly she was very bitter about her

mutation. Xavier just smiled.

"Hmm. Rogue, could you escort this young lady to her room please?"

Xavier called to the rec room. A few seconds later, Rogue was seen coming

out into the foyer. She had changed a lot since gaining control of her

powers, like wearing colors. For instance, right now she was wearing a

royal purple wife beater with not-bought-faded jeans and her black

Converse. She had grown her hair out and stopped straitening it, leaving it

long and curly.

"Hello there." she said. "I'm Rogue, I'll be your history teacher." she

held out her hand to the girl. The girl eyed her outstretched hand

warily until slowly reaching out with her own gloved hand and shaking it

quickly.

"Julia Shear."

"Well, Julia, what is your power?" Rogue asked.

"I have poison skin." she said again. Rogue nodded and a smile graced

her features.

"Poison skin, huh? Seems we are going to have a lot in common." she

said, still smiling.

"I don't think so." Julia said, eyeing Rogue's bare shoulders.

"Why don't you get to know me first, sugah?" Rogue said, picking up one

of the girl's duffel bags. "Follow me, your room is right this way."

they walked off. Then the doorbell rang again. Professor Xavier went to

the intercom and told the person to come up. This time he was met by

three people; one tall boy with dirty blonde hair, and then a boy and girl

who had similar features and the same stormy grey eyes who were both

tall.

"Hello, my name is Charles Xavier, and this is my school for gifted

young adults like yourselves.

"Hi, I'm Chris Jameson." said the tall blonde boy. "I have super

speed."

"I'm Jack Lewis. This is my twin sister, Alley." said the other boy,

brushing his brown hair out of his eyes.

"I have super strength, and Jack can control the weather." Alley said.

"Brilliant. I am very glad you all are here. I will have one of your

teachers escort you to your rooms. Scott, Jean, could you come here

please?" Xavier said. The aforementioned came into the foyer where the three

students awaited them.

"Scott, Jean, this is Chris, Jack, and Alley. They will be staying here

from now on. Gentlemen, and lady, this is Professor Summers and

Professor Grey. They teach sciences and math. They will be showing you to your

rooms." Xavier said. The teens nodded and followed Scott and Jean to

their rooms, passing Rogue, who was coming back down. The doorbell rang

again. After another episode with the intercom, Xavier decided to just

send Logan to put a note on the columns around the gate and just leave

the gate open. When the front door finally opened, a girl with short,

feathery blonde hair and feisty blue eyes walked in with a half full

duffel bag.

"Melanie Rosebrook, I presume?" Xavier asked. The girl pushed her

sunglasses into her hair and placed a hand on her hip.

"Call me Blitz." She said with a smile. Xavier nodded.

"I am Charles Xavier and this is my school for the gifted. May I ask

what your power is?" said Xavier.

"Electricity." she said.

"Brilliant. If you wait one moment, I will have Rogue take you to your

room. Rogue?" Xavier called to her again. She came again.

"Rogue, this is Melanie Rosebrook. She has the power of electricity."

"I told you, call me Blitz!" Blitz said.

"Sugah, your friends can call you that but I'm afraid that Professors

have to use your real name."

"You get to use your cool nickname!"

"Hun, it's the only name I've got. Now c'mon, I'll show you where your

room is, then you can go explore." Rogue said with a smile. Blitz

shrugged and followed her up the stairs. As soon as they rounded the corner,

the door opened again. This time, a tall, dark-haired boy entered

holding hands with a medium-height girl with chestnut colored hair.

"Hello, I'm Luke DeWenson and this is Stephanie Wardlow. Is this

Xavier's School?" the boy asked.

"Yes, sir, I am Charles Xavier. Welcome to my school. May I inquire as

to what your powers are?"

"I can project beams of light and Stephanie...well..." Luke started.

"The best way to describe it is that I can turn into a ghost."

Stephanie said. Xavier nodded and called to X23 and Pietro.

"Ah yes, X23, Pietro. This is Luke DeWenson and Stephanie Wardlow.

Luke, Stephanie, this is X23 and Pietro Maximoff, your athletics coaches.

They will show you to your rooms." Xavier said.

"Right this way, Stephanie." X23 said. Pietro beckoned Luke to follow

him and led the way to the boys' wing. No sooner had they gone did the

door yet again open. In walked a relatively small girl with dirty blonde

hair and greenish-greyish eyes. She had gloves on that volleyball

players use so they don't burn their hands when diving. They were a bright

green color.

"Hi! I'm Dawn Thompson." she said, walking up to Xavier.

"Hello. I am Charles Xavier, welcome to my school for the gifted."

"Thanks, buddy!"

"Yes. May I ask what your powers are?"

"I can create and control fire. How sweet is that?" Dawn said with a

smile. Xavier was just about to call Kitty to come show her to her room

when...

"OH MY GOD DAWN!"

"SWEET MOTHER, BLITZ!"

Evidentally, they knew each other.

"You know each other?" Xavier asked. He wanted an explanation, you see.

"Heck yes! Dawn was only the most fantastic outside player on our

Varsity Volleyball team!" Blitz exploded.

"And Blitz was our best middle blocker and hitter!" Dawn exploded back.

"We go way back, you see."

"Totally. Been best friends since like, the second grade. Why didn't

you tell me you were a mutant?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Touche."

"That's what I thought." Blitz said. Xavier smiled at the girls'

energy.

"Well then," he said. "Melanie, would you please show Dawn to an empty

room in your wing?"

"Ok!"

"Haha he called you Melanie!" Dawn said as they made their way up the

stairs. Xavier turned around and found a girl waiting for him with tan

skin, dark, curly hair, and deep brown eyes.

"Hello. I am Charles Xavier. This is my school for gifted young

adults."

"My name is Carmen Baez." the girl said with a slight accent.

"And what might your power be, Carmen?"

"I can melt into shadows and move through them undetected." she said

quietly.

"I see. Well, Miss Baez, if you wait for just a moment I'll have

Professor Pryde take you to your room. Kitty, come here please."

Needless to say, she came to him.

"Kitty, this is Carmen Baez. Carmen, this is Professor Pryde. She

teaches health class." Xavier said.

"Come, Carmen. Your room is right this way!" Kitty said, leading the

girl up the stairs and to the right. Xavier sighed. It was a lot of

people to meet in one day. He pushed his thoughts aside as a boy walked in.

He had dark brown hair and brown eyes and glasses.

"Hello. Is this the Xavier mansion?" he asked calmly.

"Yes it is. I am Charles Xavier, founder and owner of this school."

"My name is Hunter Breax. I believe we talked last week?"

"Yes Mister Breax. If you would remind me of your powers?"

"I can match any background, like a chamelion."

"Yes, yes, that's right. Wait one moment, I'll have Kurt show you to

your room. Remy, we have a young man for you to escort." Xavier called.

Remy came around the corner and smiled at the boy.

"Hello, I'm Professor LeBeau. I teach French."

"I'm Hunter Breax."

"If you come this way I'll show you where you'll be staying." Remy

said, leading the boy off. The Professor turned to find another boy coming

in.

"Hey, I'm Jason McMannis. I'm here for Xavier's school." he said.

"Well you are here. I'm Charles Xavier, and this is my school."

"Nice to meet you, sir."

"Nice to meet you. May I ask you your power?"

"I can sense a persons greatest fears and project them." Jason said.

"I see. One moment, I will have Scott take you to your room." the

Professor said. Scott came out of the rec room after being called and took

Jason up to the boys' wing. A few minutes later, the front door opened

for what would be the last time that day. In walked a girl with bright

blue hair and shocking green eyes.

"Professor Charles Xavier?" she asked without a hint of hesitance.

"Yes. You are Hailey Benson, correct?"

"Yes sir. I imagine you already know that I have telepathy and

telekinesis."

"I do indeed. So you decided to stay here?"

"Yes."

"Great. I will call Jean to show you to your room."

"Fabulous." Hailey responded. A couple seconds later, Jean came and

took Hailey up to the girls' wing. The Professor sighed as finally all the

new students were here and went to his study for a relaxing book. The

rest of the teachers went to try and prepare for classes that were

starting on Monday.


	2. Getting to know Everyone

-Chapter 2: Getting to Know Everyone-

-girls' dorm, Blitz's room-

All the girls had gotten into one room to try and get to know everyone.

What can I say, it's what girls do. Well, most girls.

"I still don't understand why I'm here." Julia said. When you can't

touch anyone, you tend to not like being around a lot of people at one

time. Julia was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, which was

big enough to hold two people but for now only held one. It had two twin

beds, one extremely large desk, a bookshelf, the chair Julia was

sitting on, and nightstands with lamps.

"We hafta get to know everyone, silly!" Hailey said, brushing a blue

strand of hair out of her eyes with her telekinesis. Julia didn't answer

her. The seven girls were all situated in the bare room, Julia in the

chair, Blitz and Dawn on one bed, Alley and Hailey on the other, and

Stephanie and Carmen sitting on the desk. They made one big, disfunctional

circle.

"Ok, I'll go first!" Hailey said after a moment of awkward silence.

"Ahem. Hi, my name is Hailey Benson, I'm 17, and I have the power of

telepathy and telekinesis. My favorite thing to do is swim." She smiled at

the room.

"I guess it's my turn, then." Alley said running her hand through her

dark hair nervously. "My name is Alley Lewis, I'm also 17, and I have

super strength. My favorite thing to do is watch movies."

"Hello, I'm Dawn, and I am 16. When I take these awesome green vball

gloves off and snap, I can create fire and control it. My favorite thing

to do is prank and play volleyball with Blitz." Dawn said, her

green-grey eyes flitting around the room with obvious pent-up energy.

"Yo I'm Blitz. I'm 16, and I control electricity. I like pranking and

volleyball and spazzing out and eating and-" Blitz said.

"Today, Blitz." Dawn interrupted.

"Anyways," Blitz continued. "Where was I? Oh yea. Spazzing, eating, and

boys. I like boys." she said with a smile. Dawn rolled her eyes.

Everyone looked to Julia, who sighed in submission after a moment.

"My name is Julia. I'm 17. I have poison skin and I like to read." she

said quietly. She obviously didn't want to talk, so they moved on.

"Hola, me llamo Carmen Baez. I'm 16 and I can melt into shadows. Soy de

Puerto Rico and I like sports and boys." Carmen said with a hint of

accent.

"Hello, I'm Stephanie, I'm also 16 and I can turn into a ghost. I enjoy

doing anything, really." said Stephanie, playing with her chestnut

hair. There was another moment of silence, as they had gone all the way

around the room. Well, it was silent.

"Ok, now that we've gone around, who says we go ask if we can do

something with these rooms? They're like jail cells!" Blitz bursted out. All

of the other girls murmured in agreement. So a few of them decided to

go ask. A few meaning everyone but Julia and Stephanie, who decided to

stay with her. So the other five scampered on their merry way to the

Professor's office.

-the boy's wing, Hunter's room-

All the boys sat in one room, doing nothing. Being boys, they just

naturally got along for the moment. They were all laying down or almost

laying down. Chris was on one bed, Hunter on the other, Jack on the desks,

Jason on the carpeted floor, and Luke on the chair.

"Shouldn't we introduce ourselves or something?" Chris asked tiredly

from the bed.

"I'm Jack Lewis, 17, can control weather." Jack said without ever

moving the arm across his eyes. He was laying down comfortably on the desk.

"I'm Hunter, I'm 16, and I can blend in to any background." Hunter

pushed his glasses up a bit and shifted on the mattress.

"Jason McMannis, 17, find and project a person's worst fears." came

Jason's voice from the floor.

"I'm Luke DeWenson, I'm 17, and I can project light beams...or

something like that..." Luke said, laying all over the chair. There was a

minute of silence.

"Guess that means it's my turn..." Chris said. "I'm Chris Jameson, I'm

17, and I have super speed."

"Sweet..." said Jack.

"Anyone wanna go exploring?" Luke asked, although he sure didn't sound

like he wanted to.

"Go right ahead." Jason responded.

"Maybe in a minute..." was the response.

-Girls hallway-

"I think I wanna paint my room yellow...with polka dots..." Blitz said.

"I'm thinkin' mine's gonna be blue..." Dawn said.

"I want pink!" said Hailey.

"What are you, four?" Alley asked her jokingly.

"No I'm five silly!" Hailey answered her.

"Where does that hallway lead?" Carmen interrupted, pointing down the

boys' hallway.

"That's the boys' hallway." Alley said.

"Gasp! How did you know that!" Blitz asked in fake appallment.

"My brother went down there." Alley answered.

"Sounds reasonable enough." Blitz said with a shrug and a nod.

-Hunter's room-

"What's that noise?" Jason said from the floor.

"Well I just heard my sister so I'm thinkin-" Jack said.

"Girls?" Chris said. All the heads raised up, then to the door. A

couple minutes later, all the boys were scrambling out of the room and into

the hallway.

-hallway-

The girls had just finished their discussion on the boys' hallway when

they all came tumbling out of the room. Blitz was the first to notice.

Who'da thunk it. She immediately grabbed Carmen and started tapping her

incessantly.

"Carmen. Carmen! Boys! Boys boys!

Boysboysboysboysboysboysboysboysboysboysboysboysboysboys-"

"Shut up, Blitz! We see the boys!" Dawn said.

"They're kinda cute..." Hailey said.

"Si, son muy guapos..." came Carmen.

"Question: Do you always switch from English to Spanish?" Alley said

with actual curiosity.

"Yea. Es a bad habit since I came to los Estados Unidos." Carmen said.

The boys came down the hall and stopped. Everyone stared in silence.

Blitz was the first one to break the silence.

"Hey, I'm Blitz!" she said, sticking out her hand to the first boy, who

was somewhat tall with brown hair and eyes with glasses. Hunter gulped

a little bit nervously and shook her hand.

"I'm Hunter." he said before Jason pushed him out of the way.

"Jason McMannis, nice to meet you." he said with a flirty smirk.

"You're right it's nice to meet me. I'd have to say I'm quite a sexy

acquantance." Blitz said with a challenging smirk, placing her hands on

her hips.

"Obviously this will get us NOWHERE so therefore, I will introduce

everyone!" Dawn said, pulling Blitz back by the wasteband of her jeans. "I

am Dawn. The girl with the blue-grey eyes and dark hair over there is

Alley. Blueberry over there is Hailey and the Latina babe over there is

Carmen. Not pictured are Julia and Stephanie. Julia likes dark stuff

and Stephanie has reddish-goldish kinda colored hair."

"What about me?" Blitz said.

"You already introduced yourself, loser." Dawn said.

"Your mom." Blitz said.

"Your face." Dawn countered.

"Your mom's face. OH WHAT NOW!" came Blitz.

"Your dad." Dawn said with a smirk. Blitz fake gasped.

"Oh NO you didn't!" she said.

"I believe I just did-"

"Ladies!" Alley interrupted. "Why don't we let the boys introduce

themselves?" she said. The boys, however, were just standing there, staring.

Chris was the first to regain his composure.

"Uh right. I'm Chris, tall dark one over therre is Luke, the one that

looks like Alley is Jack, and you've already met Jason and Hunter."

"Pretty flippin' sweet." Blitz said.

"Ok Blitz time to shut up now." Hailey said. Blitz shrugged and nodded

her head in agreement. "We were just going to ask the Professor if we

can paint our rooms because they're grotesquely decorated." Hailey

explained.

"Sounds resonable. We'll wait for you in this room right here, which

would happen to be Hunter's room." Jason said with a wink.

"Interesting..." Alley said. "Anyways...let's go."

The girls went down the central staircase and down a hall that looked

mighty important. They soon found a great oak door with a conveniantly

placed gold name plate that read 'Prof. Charles Xavier'. Carmen knocked

on the door.

'Come in, girls.' he said in their heads. Most of the girls got

startled and looked around the hall. The only ones who didn't were Hailey and,

of course, Blitz.

"Sweet." she said, and opened the door. The Professor was sitting at

his desk, casually looking over some papers.

"What can I do for you, girls?" he asked.

"Well, sir," Alley said, being the calmest of the bunch. "we were

wondering if perhaps we could decorate our rooms? They are very plain and

boring, you see."

"Very well. I will have Logan take you to shop for these things next

weekend. One thing, though: you cannot decorate too crazy. I expect more

students to come during the year and you all will probably end up

sharing rooms." the Professor answered. The girls cheered.

"Thank you sir. Uh...do you have a computer lab or something where we

can look up merchandise on the internet?" Alley asked.

"If you look in your desk drawers you will find that you each have your

own laptops. There is wireless connection in each of the rooms. Please

inform the boys of this, also." the Professor said.

"How rich are you?" Blitz asked stupidly. It was rewarded by a hard

smack on the back of the head from Dawn. "Sorry!" she said quickly. The

Professor just laughed.

"If you think about it, I am basically acting as your parent and

guardian. I need to provide for you. The laptops are going to be used for

many projects this year, and that is the reason you have them. If you make

a list of what you would like to order over the internet, I will give

you each the necessities to purchase them. Go now, have some fun." he

said with a smile. Needless to say, they left. Ran up the stairs, in

fact. Only Dawn stopped and popped her head into the boys' room.

"Hey! Ever heard of knocking?" Chris said from his position on the bed

again.

"Yea! You're unlucky, we could have been changing or something!" Jason

said with a smirk. Dawn rolled her eyes.

"Like you would have anything to hide." she said.

"Burn." said Jack.

"Face." said Luke.

"Mom." said Chris. (a/n: That's all you'll hear in my BCIS class)

"Anyways..." Dawn continued. "The Professor said we can paint our rooms

and that you all have laptops in your desk drawers. See yuh!" She

closed the door and went to go find her new laptop.

"Yea...that's pretty sweet..." Jack said.

"I'm thinkin' I'm gonna take a nap first..." Chris said, yawning.

"You're thinkin' what I'm thinkin'..." Hunter replied.

-Blitz's room-

"Grotesque pink!" Blitz said, picking up the box that contained her

iBook. "Anyone wanna trade?"

"I'll take it!" Hailey said, taking the box. "I've got lime green."

"Ooh I want lime green!" Dawn said, taking that box. "I got blue."

"Me gusta el azul!" Carmen said, taking that box. "I have red."

"I'll take the red!" Stephanie said, grabbing the red. "Purple,

anyone?"

"Me." Julia said, taking the purple. "Orange?"

"I'll take orange." Alley said. "You want yellow, Blitz?"

"Heck yes I want yellow!" she said. "Now, let's get searching! I

seriously want some new linens white is not my style." she said.

The weekend went by quickly, all the teens slowly getting to know each

other. Most got along well, and before anyone knew it, it was Monday

morning. And time for classes.


	3. The First Day

-Chapter 3: The First Day-

-Monday morning, 5:30 a.m., boys hallway-

Jack slammed a hand on his alarm clock. He slowly raised his head to

glare at the bright red numbers. They glared back. He slowly got up and

went through the routine of getting ready for school, taking a cold

shower to wake up before dressing in jeans and a tshirt. He then went down

the hall and banged on all of the boys' doors to wake them up. Jack,

being the most morning person of the group, had been dubbed the official

waker-upper. Thus the boys woke up and got ready slowly. Boys can

afford to do that, after all.

-Monday morning, 5:30 a.m., girls hallway-

"Anyone have any shampoo?"

"I need shaving cream!"

"I need a hair straitener!"

"I need something that I don't particularly wanna yell outloud!"

"Oh, there's tons of that stuff in Steph's bathroom."

"I have no idea what to wear!"

That is what a person would hear if they were to stand in the middle of

the girls' hallway that morning. Showers going, people yelling, clothes

being tossed in any and every direction.

"Ok, I am a self-proclaimed fashion stylist!" Carmen called. "If you

don't know what to wear, vienes aqui!"

"Huh?"

"Come here." she answered.

"Oh. I need help!" Stephanie called. Carmen walked over to her room and

pulled out all of Steph's clothes.

"Go take a shower. I'll find something for you by the time you come

out." Carmen said.

"Thanks Carmen!" Stephanie said, going into the bathroom to take a

shower. Carmen thought and looked for a moment before picking out a blue

jean skirt, a yellow and white striped shirt, and a blue tank to go

underneath. She topped it off with blue detailed flats.

"Hm." she said, admiring her work. "Well, my work here is done. Who's

next?" she called.

"Me!"

"Who's 'Me'?"

"Alley!"

"Ok, hun, estoy viniendo!"

"Wha?"

"I'm coming." Carmen said with a sigh.

"Anyone good with hair? Mine isn't working with me!" Dawn called.

"I am!" Stephanie said, emerging from the shower in a towel.

"Can you come help me?"

"Sure thing!" she said after looking over the outfit Carmen picked with

approval.

"Does anyone have eyeshadow to match this top?" Blitz called, walking

into the hallway.

"I probably do. Come here, I'll do all your make up for you. I'm gonna

be a make up artist!" Hailey called.

Needless to say, it was a very busy morning.

-7:30 a.m.-

All of the students sat in the dining room, the remnants of breakfast

left on their plates. The easy morning chatter died down as the

Professor wheeled in.

"Good morning, I trust you all slept well? Very good. Your classes will

start in 30 minutes. Seeing as you all are around the same age and

there are so few of you, you will be having classes together. After your

last period, I wish to meet with all of you in the rec room. You are

dismissed." he said. He then wheeled out of the room as the students got up

and prepared for the day ahead.

-8:00 a.m., Rogue's classroom-

"Good morning, everyone," Rogue said. "can I get y'all to have a seat?"

The students all came into the room, bustling around for a moment

before taking a seat. They all looked towards Rogue, wondering if they were

going to enjoy this class or not.

"My name is Rogue, and I will be your history teacher. Now, I realize

that history is kinda boring and most people do not like it, but I will

try my best to make it enjoyable and interesting.

History is our past. Our past makes us who we are. True, I know some

people who don't like their past, but that is not the point. The point is

that who we are is made by what happened in history. For instance, what

if Benjamin Franklin never discovered electricity? We would all be

sitting in the dark until some other lunatic flew a kite in a lightening

storm.

This year we will be reading every once in a while out of this book,

but not very often." she passed out a thick history textbook to all of

the students. "I will warn you ahead of time if you need them." Once

everyone had a book, she went back to the front of the class.

"Do all of you have colored pencils?" she asked. The class dove into

their backpacks and pulled out various brands of colored pencils.

"Very good. I want you to use them to color this map of the United

States, separating it by time zone. I'll let you have an easy first day.

The map of the time zones is on page A14. Get to work, now!" she said

with a smile, passing out a work sheet.

"Argh, work already!" Jason complained.

"It's school, Mr. McMannis, what did you expect?" Rogue said without

looking up from her work. Jason shut up and turned in his book to the map

and began coloring on his map.

"Smooth move, bud." Jack told Jason.

"Like crunchy peanut butter." Jason said sarcastically.

"It's gotta be a new record." Chris said.

"What?"

"15 minutes into first period of the first day, and you already got a

teacher watching you."

-2nd period-

"English is one of the most difficult languages to learn." Wanda

started. The class immediately started to worry. "I know this because even

people who speak it have to take it in school. Luckily, this class will

have nothing to do with grammar. I am Professor Maximoff, and I will be

your English teacher." She reached under her desk and pulled out a

stack of thin books, then began to pass them all out.

"We will start this semester off by reading Shakespear's 'The Taming of

the Shrew'. It is a comedy of battling wits, battling siblings, and

battling suitors. With an undertone of secrecy and deception, I think you

all will find it rather interesting."

The students all looked at each other, and then to the play in their

hands. The language was confusing, with est's and thou's and thee's and

many other confuzzling terms. Carmen slowly raised her hand into the

air.

"Yes, Miss Baez?" Wanda asked.

"Um, I'm not very good with Shakespeare's wording..." Carmen said.

Wanda smiled.

"Luckily for you, I am. If you still have trouble, I suggest you make

friends with someone who gets it because we will be reading more of

Shakespeare as the year progresses."

Carmen sighed and looked to her table partner, Alley. Alley looked back

and shrugged.

"Now, you all have two choices-"

"To read or not to read, I hope." Chris said.

"Shut up, Chris." Blitz said, throwing a paper ball at him. It hit his

head.

"Wrong play, Mr. Jameson. 'Hamlet' isn't until next semester." Wanda

said. "You're choices are listen to a tape or read it out loud. The

decision will be made by a show of hands. All for the tape?" Hunter and

Julia raised their hands. "All for reading out loud?" The other 10 hands

went up. "Well then, let's assign parts."

They went through the list, assigning parts to those who wanted them,

and then started on the Induction. It took them a long time, considering

Wanda had to explain what was going on almost every line. It was a very

long class.

-3rd period-

"Welcome, class, to Algebra II. I am your teacher, Professor Grey."

Jean brought the class in from the hall. "We will start with a seating

arrangement, then we will pass out books and read an overview of the

class. Now, everyone stand against that back wall." The class moved against

a wall of the classroom, all wondering why on earth there was going to

be a seating arrangement.

"Ok. At this front table here I need Dawn and Hunter. This next table I

need Carmen and Jason. Here, Luke and Jack. That far front table,

Stephanie and Melanie." The previously stated students all found their assigned

seats before Jean moved on.

"Alrighty. Middle row, Hailey and Alley. Next, Julia and Chris. Ok,

class, find your seats and I will pass out the overview of the class."

Jean said. When all was situated, she passed out a paper that looked very

organized and official.

"How many things can you possibly say about Algebra?" Hailey whispered

to Alley.

"Evidentally, a lot." Alley whispered back.

"Quiet down girls! Everyone read along with me. This class will consist

of notetaking and homework. When you come in, you will set your things

down and get out a pencil, paper, and your book. For the first part of

class, we will take notes and do examples out of the book. For the

second part of class, I will allow you to work on your homework assignment.

You will have homework in this class almost every night, a quiz every

Thursday, and tests when we finish a chapter. If you need any help, I am

here for you. Now, I will pass out your books." she got up and went to

a separate desk where many yellow and orange books stood, "Intermediate

Algebra" stamped on the sides. She took time passing them out, then

went back to the front.

"Now for the rules." Jean said with a smile.

"Here it goes..." Jack said.

"No gum in this class. No talking when I am talking. Bring paper every

day. Bring a pencil every day. Bring your book every day. Bring a

calculator every day. Don't throw things. Don't touch people unnecessarily.

Do not do work for other classes in this one.

Do not interrupt class unnecessarily. Do as you are told. Take notes.

Keep all your papers in a binder. No cell phones. No music players. No

gossiping. No sleeping in class. But most of all, have fun!" Jean

finished.

"This is gonna be one loooooong year..." Blitz said, resting her head

in her hand.

-4th period-

"Bonjour, I am Professor LeBeau. I am your French teacher." Remy said.

Most of the girls swooned. Most of the guys glared jealously.

"French is said t' be de language of love. It rolls of de tongue and is

easy t' pronounce. This yea', I will teach y' de beginnin's of French.

There will be a lot o' vocabulary and a lot o' speakin' practice. When

I was in high school, all we did was wor'sheets. Most students coul'

write a decen' letter or rea' a book, but had po' usage techniques. I

believe dat speakin' French is mo' important that writin' French, so that

is mainly what we will practice. I do hope tdat you will find dis class

both interestin' and fun."

"As long as he's teaching it, I don't see why it can't be." Carmen

whispered to Blitz. She gave an energetic nod of approval.

"Sexy to the Y." she answered.

"Now, I am gonna pass out y' textbooks. Y' won' need 'em very of'en,

'n' I'll tell y' if ya gonna need dem de day befo'. Dey will mainly b'

used fo' vocab. If y' open t' page t'ree, dere be de firs' lis' o' words

fo' y' t' copy. T'morro', we'll start usin' them." Remy passed out the

text books to the class and went back to the desk at the front of the

room, leaving the class to talk and have fun while doing their work. The

list only consisted of 15 words, and most finished quickly and talked.

Some about the classes they had been to, and some about the classes to

come.

"This class should be relatively simple." said Jack, leaning back in

his chair.

"Yup. LeBeau seems easy going enough. Too bad Grey isn't though." Chris

said.

"Eh, true. Not looking forward to her class everyday." Jack said.

"We can probably do her homework in English, anyways. Maximoff seems

like she wouldn't mind."

"Yea, but then you'll fall behind in that class."

"That's what tutorials are for, my friend." said Chris.

"You're gonna blow off every class that you can, aren't you?" Jack

asked rhetorically.

"Have you met me?" Chris said with a smirk.

"Just barely." Jack said, then leaned back more to take a nap.

...across the room...

"He is sooooo hott." Hailey said.

"That he is, my friend, that he is." Carmen responded.

"Break me off a piece of that!" Blitz said.

"Shut up Blitz, he's a teacher!" Dawn responded.

"I have to say, he is quite attractive." Julia mentioned.

"See? Even Julia says he's hott!" Blitz defended.

"I can't say anything, my boyfriend's in the same room." Stephanie said

with a smile.

"Boyfriend? Say what?" Alley asked her.

"Luke over there. We've been going out for about 4 months now."

"That is so cool." Hailey said.

"Or hott, if you're lookin' at LeBeau..." Blitz kept going.

"He's really fun to be around, you all will think he's cool." Stephanie

continued.

"Even his name is sexy...LeBeau..." Blitz wouldn't let it go.

"Blitz?" Carmen asked.

"Yea?"

"Can it."

"Can do."

-Lunch-

The students collaborated in the dining room, where they would have

lunch. Ororo, not having much else to do, had become the sort of chef of

the mansion. Kitty had been banned from the kitchen. Today Ororo was

feeling lazy, however, and just laid out bread and various sandwich meats

for the students to make for themselves. It took a good ten minutes,

but soon everyone was sitting with a sandwich (or 2) and chips, chatting

the 35 minute lunch time away.

"I cannot believe that Grey gave us homework already!" Jack complained.

"Summers is gonna be even worse." Luke said.

"How do you know?" Alley asked.

"He led me to my room. The guy went on and on and on about how science

is going to be fun and challenging this year...then he went on about

paying attention in math because that will help a lot." Luke answered.

"Great. So we get Grey and Summers giving us homework on the first

day...that is just peachy." Alley said, taking a bite out of her turkey

sandwich.

...down the table...

"That is not physically possible." Carmen said.

"Sure it is, I've done it before!" Blitz said.

"I doubt it. A body is not made to bend that way." Hailey said.

"Trust me, it can. You can ask Dawn, she was there when it happened!"

Blitz insisted.

"It's true." Dawn said with her mouth full.

"But...how?"

"Well, she dove for the ball, stretched one arm out, popped the ball

strait to the setter, back flipped over herself, sprinted, jumped,

twisted, and made a perfect slide that ended with us winning." Dawn

explained.

"Whoa." Hailey said.

"No juego volibol, but that sounds complicated." Carmen said.

"Eh, not really." Blitz said, turning her attention to her delicious

food.

"I still don't think it happened..." Stephanie said.

...other side of the table...

"So what do we have after this?" Chris asked.

"Hopefully a nap." Jason answered.

"Nope. Health." Alley said, ever being the voice of wisdom.

"I call it nap class." Jason said. Alley rolled her eyes and spotted

one boy who hadn't said anything the whole time.

"You've been quiet, Hunter." she said. Hunter shrugged and smiled,

hoping no one noticed the slight blush he was getting from talking to a

girl. Now, don't get confused and think Hunter doesn't like girls. He

likes them. A lot. He had just never been the best at talking with girls.

Kinda shy, you see.

"He's pretty much like that." Jason said.

"I guess you're here to make up for his silence?" Alley said.

"You act like being talkative is a bad thing."

"'It is better to keep your mouth shut and to appear stupid than to

open it and remove all doubt.'"

"Oh, that's a face." Chris said.

"Nu uh, that's a burn." Luke said.

"Shut up." Jason said. He searched a little bit through Alley's mind

before finding what he was looking for. He then projected a vision of a

small spider slowly moving down the table, right in front of Alley, who

was the only one who could see it.

"Jack..." Alley said, grabbing her twin's shoulder.

"What, Alley?" he asked.

"There's a spider right there."

"No there's not." Jack answered.

"Yes there is, Jack! Kill it!" she whispered fervently.

"Alley there's nothing...oh." realization hit him. "Jason, cut it out."

he said, hitting the dark haired youth over the head.

"What? I was just having some fun!" Jason said.

"Not cool, man. Alley's deathly afraid of spiders." Jack told him.

"What's going on?" Alley asked.

"Jason can find a person's worst fears and project them." Luke said.

"Oh. That was mean!" Alley said, tossing a Frito at Jason's head.

-5th period-

"Hello there, class! I'm Professor Pryde, your health teacher!" Kitty

said in an energetic voice. "This year, we're gonna be learning about

exercise, stress management, what you eat, smoking, and lots of other

health related stuff. We're gonna be reading or doing worksheets most

every day, so you all are going to need to bring your book."

"Are you kidding me? We have books for like, every class!" Jason said

quietly.

"If you would let me finish, Mr. McMannis?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, my bad."

"That's what I thought. As I was saying, you will need to bring your

book every day. However, I know how annoying it is to carry books, so I

will let you keep them in this room so that you don't carry them around.

Carrying to many books can damage your neck and spine. We will learn

more about that this year.

I have only one rule in this class, and that's pay attention. I don't

mind if you chew gum or doodle or whatever your little mind wants to do,

just pay attention. Most of this stuff, however cheesy it may seem, is

very helpful to your every day life. For instance: you all know that

smoking is addictive, correct?"

"Yes..." the class answered.

"Did you know, however, that if you didn't smoke for 3 days strait,

your body would be rid of the nicotine that makes it addictive? The only

reason people keep smoking is because of the motion. Kind of like Mr.

Logan. Mr. Logan has healing factor and doesn't get drunk easily.

However, he used to drink whenever me or my fellow...erm...comrades stressed

him out. He never got addicted to the alcohol, it was merely the motion

of downing a strong liquid. He now is drinking highly carbonated drinks

so he can feel the burn but in a somewhat healthier way. Sodas aren't

healthy! Water is!" she said. The class, having no idea who Mr. Logan

was or why he was getting so stressed out, merely stared at Kitty and

nodded slowly.

"Ok. We're going to go around the room and I want you all to tell me

one thing you think is healthy. Why don't you go first, Mr. McMannis?"

Kitty said.

"Ok. Salads are healthy." Jason said.

"Fair enough. Mr. Jameson?"

"Fruit." Chris said.

"Yes. Mr. DeWenson?"

"Basketball." Luke answered.

"Definately. Mr. Lewis?"

"Football." Jack said.

"Yes. Mr. Breax?"

"Soccer." Hunter answered.

"Most definately. You run a whole lot in soccer. Anyways, Julia?"

"Vegetables." Julia said shortly.

"Yes. Alley?"

"Swimming." she answered.

"You all are cheating, just saying different sports! Anyways, Steph?"

"Running."

"Yes. Carmen?"

"Weight lifting."

"Yes. Melanie?"

"Volleyball!" Blitz answered.

"Mmhmm. Dawn?"

"Laughing!" Dawn said.

"My favorite thing to do! Hailey?"

"Uuh...dancing!"

"Yes! Very good everyone." Kitty said. "Now, I need you all to get out

a piece of paper and a pen. We're going to do a self-analysis." Kitty

bounced back behind the desk to get the paper.

"I think our health teacher is psycho..." Hailey whispered quietly.

Alley nodded while twirling her finger around her ear in a 'crazy' sign.

-6th period-

"Hello, class, I am Professor Summers, your science teacher. I believe

we will start this year off with a seating arrangement. Everyone

against the wall." Scott said.

The class grumbled as they went to the wall. They didn't need a seating

chart...yet. They sat and waited as Scott would call a name and watch

the person walk to the desk before calling another one. It was a very

long, tedious process in which most people got very, very bored.

"We've been here only 5 minutes and I'm already fed up with him."

Hailey said.

"I hear you. This guy is like a male version of Grey. How much you

wanna bet they're going out?" Alley responded.

"Shoot, I would never take that bet in my life. I'm already broke, and

they've got to be a couple."

"Most of the teachers here are couples I think." Stephanie said.

"Like who? Obviously Grey and Summers." Hailey asked.

"Well Maximoff has a boyfriend, I saw them earlier when I went to get

my iPod out of the rec room."

"Oh, was he hott?" Carmen asked.

"I think so, but they were really cute together."

"Who else?" Blitz came into the conversation. "Hopefully not my

luscious LeBeau."

"I don't think so." Stephanie said.

"He's going out with Rogue." said Julia.

"WHAT?" was the general response.

"How do you know that?" Alley asked.

"She told me. It's...well, it's a really long story." Julia said.

"Girls, stop talking. This isn't gossip time, it's science time. Take

out a piece of paper. I'm going to see if you can do Punnett squares

before we go over the syllabus." Scott said. He would be glaring, but it's

kinda pointless.

"Think he heard us?" Hailey asked.

"Most definately. Why do you think he's so ticked?" Blitz responded.

"This is gonna be a loooooong class too..." Dawn said.

-7th period-

All the students, after changing into athletic gear, met outside in the

Institute's backyard. Most of the boys were wearing basketball shorts

and t-shirts, while the girls were in short shorts or spandex, in the

case of Dawn and Blitz. Except Julia, who was wearing long wind pants

with buttons on the side and a tighter long-sleeve shirt, along with her

customary gloves. They sat and waited in silence until they heard the

door open behind them. Out came X23, wearing black, short spandex shorts

and a black racerback.

"Hi, I'm X23. You can call me X. I'm your athletics coach." X23 said.

"YOU'RE our athletics coach?" Jason asked.

"Well, if you're a girl. Girls, follow me. Boys, your coach will be

here in a second." she led the girls off to a part of the large yard,

having them sit on the grass.

"Wow. She is sexy." Chris said.

"I have to admit, for a teacher she is really hott." Jason agreed.

"She's also taken." said a voice. The boys turned to see Pietro

standing there, his arms crossed. "I'm Pietro Maximoff. You can call me coach,

or Coach Maximoff, or Pietro, I don't care. In this class, we will be

getting your endurance up-"

"Shouldn't we be, like, furthering our mutant powers or whatever?"

Jason asked.

"That is for danger room sessions. Here, it's about building strength.

We start right now with a 2 mile jog. Follow me. We're gonna stretch,

then get going."

The boys followed glumly after Pietro. They weren't too excited about

this running business.

...with the girls...

"Ok, everyone sit here in a circle. We're taking it easy today." X23

said, leading the girls to a sunny, grassy area. "This class is about

getting in shape. Furthering the control of your mutant powers will be in

Danger Room sessions with Logan. So I want you all to tell me what you

think will get you into shape."

Hailey raised her hand, as well as Blitz and Dawn.

"Yes, Hailey?" X23 asked.

"Running." Hailey said.

"Very true. Running is one of the best exercises that you can do.

Dawn?"

"Volleyball!" Dawn said.

"If you give it your all, yes. Blitz?"

"She took mine." Blitz crossed her arms in mock indignation. Carmen

raised her hand.

"Carmen?"

"Ab work and sports." Carmen said.

"Absolutely. Well, good. I will do my best to try and incorporate all

of these things into what we do. As for now, I just want to get to know

you all. What you like, what's your power, the boys your with,

anything. I'll have you know that if you ever have any problem, you can come to

me. I won't judge you, even if I had the right to. My past is...well,

we won't get into that." X23 told them. They were all silent for a

moment.

"What happened?" Stephanie asked quietly.

"It's a long story."

"We've got time." Alley said. X23 smiled.

"Ok. I'll share my past, but you all have to share yours, too. Deal?"

There was a chorus of 'deal's before X23 took a deep breath and started

with her story.

-After Athletics-

"Come, everyone, have a seat." the Professor said. "Quiet down,

everyone. Quiet, please-"

"SHUT UP!" Logan yelled. The room quieted immediately.

"Erm...Thank you, Logan. Everyone, this is Mr. Logan. He will be

teaching you fighting skills and monitoring your Danger Room sessions."

"Will someone please tell us what this fricken' Danger Room is?" Chris

asked.

"Yes, Mr. Jameson. The Danger Room is a room designed to help you gain

control of your powers in a fighting simulation. It helps build

teamwork and trust. You will learn to use your powers in defense."

"Defense of what?" Alley asked.

"That, my dear, will be explained in due time. Now, in a few minutes

I'm going to ask all of you to get into clothes that you are comfortable

to work out in and that are easy to move in. You will be having your

first workout with Mr. Logan. Now, during the workout, I will call each

of you out one at a time to talk of your mutation. Go, now." the

Professor finished. The teens all got up and walked out of the room. Those who

were ready followed Logan down to the Danger Room, while Remy and Rogue

waited for those who went to change.

-Danger Room-

"21...22...23..24...TWEET!" Logan blew his whistle as the group

finished their 12th sprint across the Danger Room.

"This gasp is gasp brutal." Jack said, wheezing.

"Who gasp you gasp tellin'?" Jason asked sarcastically.

"Well, I have to say your times aren't very impressive. However, I

suppose that is enough for today. Carmen, you need to run another 7." Logan

said as Carmen came back into the group. She nodded and took off

sprinting. "Now, we will start on hand-to-hand training. Rogue, Remy?" Logan

brought the two teachers out.

"Rogue and Remy here are going to give us an example of hand-to-hand

combat. After they are done, I will ask for volunteers to take on either

me or another teacher. No student against students, y'all might kill

each other." Logan explained. "Ok, note how their beginning stance is

wide, firm, and defensive. Take special note of how they find the other's

weakness as they fight."

Rogue and Remy took the stance and looked at each other. Remy smirked

and all of the sudden pulled out his deck of cards, throwing charged

cards at Rogue. She easily dodged them. Rogue then went in, fists flying

and legs kicking. Remy blocked for a couple seconds, then started

fighting back. All the students could see were flying limbs and blocks, until

Rogue made one particularly interesting move.

Remy had grabbed her calf while she was in mid-kick. Rogue grabbed his

shoulder and pulled herself until she was right against Remy, one leg

wrapped around him. She smirked seductively and ran a hand along the hem

of his pants.

"Now, chere, not in front o' de kids." Remy said, smirking back. Rogue

all of the sudden pushed against his hip with her leg that was up,

doing a backhandspring away. Remy recovered quickly and watched as she

twirled her hand, unleashing HIS bo staff. The kids were in awe. Remy

simply brought out his spare, and then began the battle of the staffs. It

only ended when Rogue faked attacking up and pulled Remy's feet out from

under him, putting one end of the bo staff at his neck in victory.

"Thank you. As you see, fighting is basically chess on adrenaline. You

must always stay three steps ahead of your enemy." Logan said as Rogue

helped Remy up.

"Dat was a new one, chere." he said, taking his bo staff back.

"I've been working on it for a while." she responded with a smile.

"...Ok, who wants to go first?" Logan asked.

"Against who?" Chris asked back.

"Probably me." Logan responded.

"Oh, but you're kinda old." Chris said jokingly. Logan shrugged and

raised his eyebrows.

"Well then. X23? Care to take him?" Logan asked her. X23 smirked at the

boy.

"I may be to much for him." she responded. Chris raised one eyebrow.

"That sounds like a challenge to me." he said. X23's smile only got

wider.

"Hit me with your best shot." was all she said. Chris smiled and

knocked knuckles with Jason. Then he charged, using his superspeed to try and

kick her legs out from under her. She jumped and he missed. His brow

furrowed and he frowned. He then started puching and kicking at rapid

speed. X23 blocked all of his shots and then placed one soft punch in the

boy's side. He fell back for a moment.

"What the heck is in your knuckles, steel?" he asked.

"Close. Adamantium." X23 smiled. Chris concentrated for a moment before

a plan hit him. He began running in a fast circle around her, picking

up the wind. X23 rolled her eyes and sighed before clothes lining the

boy and placing her foot at his neck.

"How the heck do you do that?" he asked, breathing hard.

"Easy. Quicksilver is my training partner." she said, walking back to

Pietro. Chris got back up and went to the rest of the teens.

"Any more takers?" Logan asked with a smile. He was met with silence.

"Well, then, I'm guess I'm gonna hafta pick, then." he said, smiling in

a very evil and malicious way. A single thought went through everyone's

head.

'This is not going to end well...'

-later, after dinner-

"Oh...my...back..."

"Oooh...my muscles..."

"My...bones..."

"...ouch..."

These, among other sayings, were all that could be heard as the

students climbed up the stairs after supper. To say Logan's first Danger Room

session was brutal is an understatement. The stairs, which proved to be

a difficult obstacle between the students and...well, homework.

"I can't...believe...we still have...to...do our...homework..." Hailey

said.

"I can't believe...it's the first day...and we have...homework..."

Alley responded.

"Just from Grey...and Summers..." Stephanie added.

"Who'da...thunk it..." Julia said.

"Thunk is a funny word..." Blitz giggled.

"We're...almost...there..." Hailey said.

"So close..." Stephanie added.

"Yet...so far..." said Julia.

"We're closer than the boys, that's for sure." Dawn pointed out. The

group stopped to look at the boys, who were only half way up the stairs.

"Lazy bums." said Carmen.

A few minutes later, the girls finally made it up the stairs. You don't

have to know that Rogue, X23, Kitty, Scott, and Jean all passed them on

the way up. Wanda, Pietro, and Remy all lived in apartments away from

the Institute.

"I don't remember Logan's sessions being that tough." X23 commented.

"You wouldn't." Rogue responded as they walked up the stairs with ease.

That had been about five minutes before the girls had made it to the

top.

"Do we hafta do homework?" Blitz whined.

"YES." was the unanimous response.

"Fiiine..."

...with the boys...

"Guys, why are we taking so long?" Chris asked.

"Don't look at us. You're the one with super speed." Jason responded.

Chris' eyes widened with realization and he sped off to his room.

"And then there were four..." Jack commented.

"Is anyone seriously gonna do their homework tonight?" Luke asked the

group.

"Psht no, are you kidding?" Jason said.

"We prolly should..." Hunter said.

"Probably...but won't." Jack said. The others nodded in agreement and

continued the ascent up the stairs. They finally made it to their rooms

and took showers before collapsing on their beds with their laptops,

shopping for "man-linens" as Jason said.

...with the oh-so-responsible girls...

"Algebra is of the devil!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"I hear ya!" came Hailey's voice from next door.

"Oh, sorry my bad." Stephanie responded.

"Hun, I was saying I agree." Hailey told her.

"Just kidding..." Stephanie said.

"VICTORY IS MINE!"

"Blitz finished..." Alley said.

"I just hope I can..." was all Carmen had to say.

**If we don't get some reveiws someone's (in the story) gonna die...and it ain't gonna be pretty.**


	4. The Three Day Weekend

-Chapter 4: The Three Day Weekend-

"I have news from the boys!" Alley exploded one morning in mid-September. All the

girls were getting ready for classes in Hailey's room. Hailey stopped applying the jade green eye liner to Dawn's eyes, both looking towards Alley. The rest of the room stopped as well, Carmen holding a green cami that she picked out for Hailey and Stephanie in the middle of French braiding Julia's hair. It was silent, for once.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us?" Blitz asked from where she was reading a book on make-up and different ways to apply it.

"Ok," Alley said, all excited and the like. "Hunter told Luke who told Jack who told me that he kinda has a crush on Carmen!"

"He who?" Hailey asked.

"He Hunter!" Alley exclaimed.

"Luke told me something like that, too!" Stephanie said, continuing with the French braid. Carmen blushed a bit and went back to picking out outfits.

"Oh, the drama..." Julia said sarcastically, fiddling with her eyeshadow.

-class-

"Well, class," Wanda said, passing out review sheets. "I believe you are all aware of the first three day weekend this weekend. You will be allowed to borrow cars this weekend instead of having to get a ride from one of us. I'm sure you're all very excited about that." the teens immediately errupted in a burst of chatter. "Now, I'm gonna let you talk today BUT IF AND ONLY IF you finish this review sheet. It won't be that hard if you paid attention. Get started!"

Let's just say the teens worked very quickly. Little chatterboxes, these people are. 25 minutes into class and everyone was finished.

"Let's go shopping!" Alley said. "I saw some pants at American Eagle the other day that I'd really like to try on."

"I wanna get a haircut. I'm not feeling this blue anymore..." Haley said, lifting up a chunk of blue hair.

"I need a haircut, too. My wings are drooping!" Blitz said.

"My hair is just getting grotesquely long." Dawn added.

"What about our rooms? Are we going to finally paint them this weekend?" Stephanie asked.

"It would be reasonable." Julia added.

"Then it's set!" Carmen said. "Este fin de semana, vamos a compras-"

"English, please."

"This weekend, we'll go shopping, get haircuts, and decorate our rooms!"

"Oh, and a movie night on Saturday!" Alley put in.

"Sounds like a plan to me! Let's do it!" Dawn said as the girls began talking...again.

...across the room...

"You do realise they're gonna make us go shopping with them." Jack said, glancing at

his sister.

"They best not. I've got my own agenda." Chris said with a smirk.

"Like what?" Luke asked.

"I dunno." Chris answered with a shrug.

"Well, shopping can't be that bad...can it?" Hunter asked.

"You don't know my sister like I do." Jack said.

"We're screwed aren't we." Jason stated more than asked.

"Pretty much yea."

The boys simultaniously groaned and set to thinking of excuses. Then they watched

in slight interest as John Allerdyce walked in and up to Wanda, who's mood was brightened. They watched idly as John whispered something in her ear before giving her a quick kiss and walking back out.

"Wonder what that was about." Chris asked, expressionless.

"Dunno." Luke answered.

"We're starting to sound like girls...talking about people's love lives..." Jason said.

"We need to go play a video game or something...kill, steal, and destroy." Chris said.

"What are you, Satan?" Jack asked with mild amusement.

"Grand Theft Auto." Chris answered.

-Danger room-

"Today, we're going to be doing something a little different after our sprints." Logan

said. The kids groaned at still having to do sprints, but somewhat hopeful that they wouldn't be sparring with the merciless senior X-Men. "You all have the special privilage to start using the Danger Room like it was meant to be used. As for now, I want a suicide run to warm up. GO!" Logan said. The teens started running line to line to line and then some as Logan watched like the dictator he was.

After about 7 more sprints, the teens were all breathless and standing by the wall of the Danger Room as Logan explained exactly what was going down.

"We have been doing hand-to-hand combat for a few weeks now, so I hope you have developed some sense of coordination. Today, you will not be fighting against humans, exactly. Wanda, John, wanna give us an example?" Logan said. Wanda and John walked out to the center of the large room.

"What level, petite?" Remy asked Wanda over the intercom.

"What do you think?" she asked John, cracking her back and shoulders.

"Let's start with a four, we still got a workout after this. Plus we wouldn't want to scare

them." he responded. She nodded and held up four fingers to Remy in the control room. Remy's fingers expertly ran over the controls and the simulation was started. With spinning spiked frisbees.

Let's just say the students were a bit surprised. Especially when Wanda's hands started glowing blue for the first time. Then they were scared.

John and Wanda easily dodged the flying disks and lasers. The robots were relatively simple as well. They destroyed them one by one, watching themselves and watching each other. They looked out for each other and worked as a perfect team.

"That is what you will now be learning to do." Logan said as the simulation ended and the couple walked back with the rest of the X-Men. "Teamwork. Look to the person on your left and the person on your right. They are your teammates. You are all on one team and must learn to work together. What you just saw was a level four simulation out of twenty-five. What they just did was nothing. You all will start with a maze simulation on level two." Logan explained. The teens were none too excited about having lasers fired at them.

...10 minutes later...

"What was that?" Logan said as the teens stood guiltily in front of him. "I'll tell you what it was. That was the most uncoordinated, inexperience, downright horrible display of mutant ability I have ever seen in my life! You couldn't even last 10 minutes on a level 2! A LEVEL 2! You couldn't watch yourselves or each other! You're going back to individual training until I figure out what to do with you." he stalked away, fuming. He's not very patient you see.

"Ok, then," Scott said, going into leader mode. "well, let's break up for individual training then. We'll mix things up a little bit. Julia go with Rogue, Melanie (Blitz) with Ray, Dawn with John, Haley with Jean, Chris with Pietro, Jack with Ororo, Luke with myself, Carmen with X23, Stephanie with Kitty, Alley with Wanda, Hunter with Piotr,and Jason with Remy. Ok, pair up and get training!"

The teens all moved (slightly nervous) towards their assigned senior X-man. Training was surely not going to be fun after their poor display in the maze (which was sure to be brought up often).

-Haley and Jean-

"Ok, Haley, do you need to stretch or anything before we get going?" Jean said with a slightly condescending look. Haley perked one perfectly manicured eyebrow.

"I think I'm good." she said, placing her hands on her hips and her mental shields up.

"Nice mental shield. Very strong." Jean said, looking strait into her eyes. Haley stared back, unafraid. Suddenly, Jean thrust out a hand and, using her telekinesis, sent Haley spinning into the air. Her plan, though, not so efficient.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEE! FASTER!"

-Dawn and John-

"Ok, shiela, show me whatcha got." John said with a smile. Dawn smiled and pulled off one of her lime green volleyball gloves. John watched with mild interest until she snapped and a flame appeared at her fingertips. He was slightly more interested then.

"FIRE!" he screamed excitedly.

"Obsessed much." Dawn replied. She made the flame into a ball of fire in her palm and made to throw it at Pyro. However Pyro, being Pyro, could see this and quickly stole the flame away from her.

"What! YOU STOLE MY FIRE!" Dawn said, shocked.

"It's what I do." John said with a smirk before making the fire into a ribbon and sending it in a very complex and intricate pattern in the air.

"Whoa, how do you do that?"

"Very carefully."

-Chris and Pietro-

"Ugh." Chris groaned as he missed Pietro again. He didn't give up, though, and sped towards Quicksilver using his superspeed. In slo mo, this is what happened.

Just as Chris reached Pietro, he flip kicked towards the older speedster, spun on the ground, and punched before continuing on the run. I want to say he actually made contact this time, but I'm not a very good liar. What happened is as Chris was flip kicking, Pietro ducked so that Chris's leg flew over his head. As Chris punched, Pietro dipped under the arm and moved to the back of the younger and tapped him on the back of the head as he sped off.

"Dude," Chris said, gasping for air. "you show no mercy, man."

"You call my girlfriend sexy and you don't get mercy." Pietro said with a smirk.

"Can you let that go and frickin' teach me how to fight!" Chris said exasperatedly.

"Maybe in a little bit." came the reply.

-Blitz and Ray-

"STAY STILL YA PANSY!" Blitz cried as Ray narrowly avoided an electric blast.

"I don't get paid enough for this..." he said as he carefully absorbed a blast and sent it back, hitting the blonde in the arm. She looked from her arm to Ray and then back to her arm. Then back to Ray.

"Oh no you didn't."

-Carmen and X23-

"Good Carmen! That's it! Oh, wait." X23 lightly punched the girl's shoulder. "Be sure to watch yourself as well as your attacker."

"Ok, I'll try." she came at X23 again, but only seemed to be attacking half-heartedly.

"Hold up, hold up. Why aren't you attacking at full force?" X23 asked.

"I...I don't want to hurt you." Carmen said, looking at X23 guiltily.

"Hun, you won't hurt me." X23 replied with a smile.

"Jean said that last week but I still put a bruise on her shoulder!"

"Well that's Jean's fault for not getting out of the way fast enough. It's ok, even good to hurt us. That means your getting better. Now, I want you to come at me with full force."

"Ok."

-Hunter and Piotr-

"You do not talk much, do you friend?" Piotr said as he tried to punch the youth. Hunter easily moved out of the way and tried to attack...well, Colossus.

"I'm kinda shy, unless it's a sport." Hunter said as he continued to try and hit Piotr. "I may be quiet off the field but on...I'm one of the most competitive people you'll meet."

"I see. What sport you play?" Piotr asked and Hunter continued to evade his attacks.

"Soccer." Hunter said, finally landing a punch on Piotr's side. But Piotr, being Piotr, barely noticed it.

"I see. That how you evade me. I see boys play soccer; it is very agressive, da?"

"Pretty much." Hunter went in for another attack. When you play soccer you're not easily winded, you see. And, if you're competitive, you're not gonna give up anytime soon. Giving up was not something Hunter was planning to do anytime soon.

-Jason and Remy-

"URGH WHY CAN'T I GET IN YOUR FRICKIN' MIND!" Jason yelled after many minutes of frustration.

"B'cuz Remy's got ment'l shi'lds, dats why." Remy replied, still shuffling his cards idly. "T'day Remy gon' teach y' how t' fight wit'out y' mutation."

"I'm not likin' the sound of this..." Jason said, looking at Remy skeptically. Remy simply smirked quite an evil smirk.

"Y' shou'dn'."

-Stephanie and Kitty-

Kitty phased through the ground as Stephanie aimed a punch at her, making her miss. However, as Kitty phased back up and tried to knock Stephanie's legs out, Stephanie turned into a "ghost", which made Kitty's hands go right through her legs.

"That's totally it! You're getting it like so fast!"

"Uh, thanks. I try." Stephanie responded.

-Julia and Rogue-

Julia and Rogue both went back and forth, attacking and defeneding in turn.

"You've really got the hang of this." Rogue said, trying to kick Julia.

"I got a lot of crap at school." Julia responded, doing a quick 1-2 punch combo.

"People just don't like to accept those different to them." Rogue said.

"That's for sure." Julia said as she continued to try and hit Rogue.

-Jack and Ororo-

"Don't get distracted, child." Ororo said as she easily formed a small thundercloud above her head. Jack, try as he might, could not master the small movement. Instead, the students could begin to feel the beginnings of a raging thunderstorm outside of the Institute.

"No, child, you must concentrate. Feel your way through the air and look for the molecules. Bring them together to form the cloud. Relax. Take your time. There is no need to rush through this. If you rush, it will do nothing but hurt you. When you most need it, you won't be able to do it. So just slow down and work at your own pace."

Jack took a calming breath and began again, trying to feel his way molecule by molecule through the air, searching for what he needed. It took him a while, but by the end of the session he seemed to get the hang of it.

-Luke and Scott-

"Concentrate, Luke! You have to concentrate before your blast!" Scott said, sending another blast toward the youth. Luke spun out of the way, narrowly missing it. He sent a blast at Scott, who sidestepped out of the way.

"Think before you blast!" another blast, another sidestep.

"THINK!" another blast, just slightly to the side...

BAM!

Scott got knocked over flat on his back as a light ray hit him square in the chest.

"Nice...concentration..." he said as he got up. Luke "accidentally" sent another blast that hit Scott in the shoulder.

"Hey man that wasn't cool." Scott said, trying to sound all hip with the terms.

"It was an accident. My bad." Luke responded before getting into fighting position again.

-Alley and Wanda-

"C'mon! Use your powers to their full ability!" Wanda said as her and Alley got into a

hand-to-hand combat.

"You're not why should I!" Alley responded. Superstrength isn't as fun as it seems.

"Because it's not my job to beat you up it's to teach you how to fight!"

"Hit me with your best shot!" Alley challenged.

"Ok." Wanda's hands glowed blue and soon the teen was trapped in a weak hex

force. Well, weak in Wanda's terms. Alley struggled a bit, but couldn't get out.

"You won't be able to get out. My hexing power is very strong." Wanda said, idly holding the teen in place. Alley scrunched into a ball before exploding in a blast of strength and power, breaking free of Wanda's hold. She landed on her feet and stood there, breathing hard.

"That," Wanda said, walking over and placing her hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "is using your powers to their full ability."

...1 hour later...

"Ok everyone I think that's enough. You can all go shower now." Jean said after about an hour and a half of session. The teens all nodded and walked slowly towards the locker rooms. The adults were the only ones left.

"They're looking better." Jean said with optimism.

"They couldn't last against a sentinal, though." X23 said.

"Don't be such a pessimist." Jean said.

"I'm just being realistic." X23 replied before walking to go get some water.

"What time is it?" Rogue asked, changing the subject.

"6 o'clock." someone random answered.

"We're still working out at 8, right?" Wanda asked as she gathered her stuff.

"Yea, 8 sharp." Scott said as she started up the stairs to get some food. The teachers gathered all of their things and made their way to get food and rest a bit before their own workout. Rogue and Remy were the last ones in there.

"Chere y' wanna go 'n' eat somet'in'?" Remy asked.

"Nah, Ah got somethin' i need to take care of she said with a smile and a wink. Remy cocked his head slightly to the side in confusion. Rogue, seeing his confusion, tilted her head back the slightest bit towards the entrance to the girls' shower room, where Julia was patiently waiting.

Remy slowly and quickly glanced his mesmerizing eyes up and spotted the teen.

"D'accord. Remy see y' in a bit, chere." Remy said, giving Rogue a kiss and walking out. Rogue walked over to Julia and leaned against the wall in front of her.

"Didja need somethin', sugah?" she asked. Julia rubbed the back of her neck and blushed a bit.

"Erm...do you think that...you could...you know..." she said.

"Ah'm afraid Ah don't." Rogue said with a slight smile. Julia bit her lip.

"Couldyoushowmehowtocontrolmypowers?" she asked quickly. If Rogue hadn't hung

out with Pietro so much, she would've needed to ask her to say again.

"You don't like ahskin' for help, do ya?" Rogue asked. Julia nodded. "Ok. What'd you say we met in here every Tuesday night and Thursday night to help you gain control? Sound good?"

"Yes, thank you." Julia said with an actual smile. Rogue smiled and lightly hit the side of the younger girl's shoulder.

"Go take a shower, hun." she said. Julia nodded again and walked into the room as Rogue went back upstairs.

-zip ahead a few hours, until like...midnight-

Hunter sat in the kitchen, slowly snacking away at a bowl of ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough, if you were wondering.

He couldn't sleep. Granted, he never really could sleep, but tonight it was different. Tonight, he was deep in thought, about many things. One was something Piotr had said during their little spar.

"You do not talk much, do you friend?" he had asked. It was true, Hunter didn't talk much. But he had always been kinda quiet, except with his friends. These people were friends, yet he was still quiet.

"Maybe mutation affects hormones..." he said to himself.

"Nope, they don't." came a female voice. Hunter looked up to see Wanda walk into the kitchen.

"What are you doing up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep." Hunter said with a shrug.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Wanda asked as she opened up the refrigerator and

grabbed a bottle of water, sitting down across the counter from the younger boy.

"Life. In general."

"That sounds pretty deep."

Hunter shrugged again. "Not really. Would you say I'm overly quiet?"

Wanda was a bit taken aback. "Quiet, but not overly I don't think. Why?"

"No reason." he went back to the ice cream in his bowl.

"Yes there is." Wanda insisted. "It's a girl, isn't it?" she said with a sly smirk. Hunter

lowered his head and fought to conceal a smile.

"HA! I was right! Well, who is it? And why is she keeping you awake, huh? HUH?"

Wanda said.

"I don't wanna say-..."

"You can tell me anything. Really. Right now, I'm not your teacher. Just a friend. I'd like to know what's bothering you."

"Ok...well, I kinda like this girl, but I'm too shy to ask her out or anything." Hunter said, his ice cream being quite fascinating. Wanda nodded and took another sip of water.

"Ya wanna know a secret?" she asked. Hunter looked up, confusion evident behind his glasses. "I used to be quiet."

"Somehow, I can't see that." Hunter answered.

"No, no! It's true. When I first came here, I didn't say a word for 2 weeks. So you're way ahead of me, bud."

"How did you...well, become like you are?"

"I started going out with John. You'd be surprised what going out with someone could do." she said, getting up and getting a plastic bag out of the cupboard.

"So you're saying I should ask her out."

"I'm saying you should do what you feel is right. Maybe hang out with her a bit, become comfortable around her. Find a common interest. That sorta stuff." Wanda began filling the bag with ice.

"Sounds resonable enough." Hunter finished his snack and put the dish and spoon in the dishwasher. Just then, footsteps were heard coming up the stairs. X23 soon rounded the corner.

"Wanda what the he...ck is taking so long? Logan is saying Rogue dislocated it."

"Me and Hunter were having a profound conversation on the meaning of life."

"Life means getting the ice to Rogue before I take said life away from you."

"Now, now, X, no death threats in front of sensitive ears." Wanda feax-scolded.

"Believe me, I've heard worse. You'd be surprised what some guys say to others on a soccer field." Hunter said. Wanda finished with the ice and got a dishtowel out to go with it. Her and

X23 began walking towards the Danger Room entrance.

"Hunter, you wanna come see a real Danger Room simulation?" X23 asked. Hunter shrugged and followed the two women downstairs.

Upon arriving downstairs, the three were met with Rogue and Remy on a bench with Scott almost groveling for forgiveness with Jean standing nearby. Logan was looking at Rogue's shoulder.

"Dislocated?" Wanda asked, tossing the ice to Remy.

"Yup. But doesn't feel like anything else is broken. We'll just pop it back in and ice it for a while." Logan answered. Jean looked horrified at the thought, and Scott would have if he could show more expression. Rogue, however impassive she looked, still slowly grabbed Remy's hand. A quick 1-2-3 and Rogue rolled her shoulder back into the socket with Logan's help. The ice was immediately placed on top.

"Well thanks Scott now we have to do one on one since two of our teammates are out." X23 said sarcastically.

"Two? But only Rogue is hurt..." Jean said.

"Like Remy gon' leave 'is chere by 'erself when she 'urt." Remy said.

"I didn't mean to! She didn't move the direction I thought she would! I'm sorry!"

Scott said.

"Chill out, Scott X's just being sarcastic." Wanda said. "Who's going first?"

"You and John." X23 said, casually leaning against the wall between Pietro and Hunter.

"Mmk. C'mon, Pyro." Wanda said, dragging her fiance out to the middle of the floor.

"Aww, sheila, do we hafta? I always lose..." John complained. Wanda ignored it.

"14, right Scarlet?" Logan said from the control room.

"Yea. Kick the music on, too." Wanda said. Logan rolled his eyes and pressed the

start button. The Black Eyed Peas "My Humps" came on, and X23 started bouncing around to it like a teenager again. Pietro smacked her in the backside with the back of his hand.

"Act your age." he said with a smile.

"Please, Pietro, not in front of the children!" X23 said, making dramatic gestures towards Hunter. The teen just shook his head and looked back towards Wanda and John.

"Next CD!" Wanda yelled. Logan laughed and changed. The Darkness "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" soon blared from the speakers.

"That's better. Start simulation." Wanda said, her hands immediately turning blue. John's flamethrowers spouted a bit of fire, which was soon turned into a large ball by John. Blue met orange as the two sent their powers at each other at the same time. The others watched for a few seconds as the battling forces went back and forth. Then the Danger Room kicked up.

The floor began moving, large blocks going different heights. There was constant motion and the couple had to disconnect for fear of falling off the towering blocks.

Hunter watched in nothing short of amazement as the two fought each other and the Danger Room itself. Blocks rose and fell, and John and Wanda battled on. Back and forth the attacks went, both looking evenly matched. That is, until John decided he would be sneaky.

John jumped onto the floor between blocks, and he knew Wanda was on the other side. He prepared his flame throwers, then waited until the block lowered.

WOOSH!

Fire flew into...an empty space?

"Whot!" John exclaimed. He was soon enveloped by a pulsing blue light. "AWW DANGIT!" he screamed.

"HA! I WIN!" Wanda said. The simulation stopped, the floor going back to its normal flatness. Wanda let John go and the two went to get a drink of water.

"Think you're ready for that?" John asked Hunter.

"Please tell me you're kidding." the teen said.

"Well we're done now, so unless you wanna try..."

"I'm not gonna lie, that's a bit too intense for me." Hunter replied. Wanda laughed.

"You'll work up to it eventually." she said.

"Well, Ah don't know 'bout the rest o' y'all, but Ah'm gonna shower and go ta bed. Ah'll be here at 10 if y'all wanna work out." Rogue said, getting up from the bench she was sitting on.

"Remy won' hea' of it, chere. Y' ain't workin' dat shouldah till at leas' Mond'y." Remy said. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Whateva ya say, Swamprat." Rogue said. Everyone knew that she was going to be in the Danger Room the next morning.

"The kids start redoin' the rooms tomorrow. Shouldn't someone be supervising?" Logan asked.

"Yup. Thanks for volunteering, Logan!" X23 said, quickly running into the shower room. Everyone quickly followed.

"Wha-" Logan started, but found only Hunter in the room. Hunter smiled, waved, then took off away from the Danger Room.

"I hate when they do that." Logan said as he stalked off to his room.

-The Next Day (Saturday)-

"SHOPPING DAY!" Haley yelled as she ran through the corridor. She banged on each door individually. After all, it was at least 9 a.m. She ran down the girls' hallway with minimal complaint, but the boys' was a different story.

"WAKE UP IT'S SHOPPING DAY!" she said.

"SHUT UP HALEY!" Jason yelled when she banged on his door.

"oh, touchy in the morning..." Haley said, looking at the door as if it was a repulsive.

She soon shrugged and went back to her room to do her makeup.

"Good morning, Julia!" Haley said while adding a soft touch of baby blue eyeshadow to match the v-neck sweater she was wearing. "Are you excited about going shopping today?"

"I suppose." Julia said, taking her spot in Haley's overstuffed chair, adjusting her blue jeans and vintage-looking Coheed and Cambria tshirt that had a black longsleeve under it. All of the sudden Blitz popped into the room, still in her pajamas.

"Is Carmen in here!" she asked. Haley and Julia blankly stared.

"Do you see her?" Julia finally said. Blitz looked around the room real quick.

"DANGIT!" she ran back out of the room and down the hall. Almost immediately, Alley rounded into the room wearing blue jeans and a red "Dr. Pepper" shirt.

"What's up with her?" she asked, poking a thumb in Blitz's direction. Julia and Haley shrugged.

"Oh. Ok. Well, Haley will you do my makeup?"

"Is the sky blue?" Haley answered, pulling out all of the makeup she owned (which is A LOT) and sitting Alley on the edge of the bed.

"Buenas dias, chicas." Carmen said, coming softly into the room. She was wearing blue jeans and one of those langerie-inspired tank tops. It was green.

"Are you aware Blitz is looking for you?" Julia said, never looking up from a book that she conjured up from...well, the spot next to the chair where she left it.

"No, why-"

"CARMEN I NEED YOUR HELP!" Blitz said, pulling Carmen out of the room by the wrist.

"Well then." Haley said, going back to beautifying Alley.

"Hey guys." Stephanie said, coming into the room. What was she wearing, you ask?

Why, she was wearing jeans with a white boy beater shirt.

"Why hello there, Steph." Haley said. She was feeling very talkative this morning.

"Fini!" she said, stepping back to admire her work.

"That looks awesome I'm not gonna lie." Stephanie said, looking over Alley's face.

"Lemme see!" Alley said, running over to the mirror. "I'm pretty sure I love it!" she said. Just then Dawn came into the room, hands in her jean pockets and styling in a greyish-blue volleyball tournament tshirt, along with the lime green gloves she always wore.

"Hi!" she said, plopping down on one of the beds. "Anyone seen Blitz?"

"She kidnapped Carmen about 5 minutes ago. She should be back soon." Stephanie answered from where she was exploring Haley's makeup collection. "Is this white eye liner?"

"It is indeed. If you put that along your lower lashes and then the color of your eyes along your upper lashes, it'll bring out the whites of your eyes and make you seem more awake." Haley said knowledgably. (tis true, by the way) Stephanie raised her eyebrows and then started putting on the eyeliner.

"Ok I'm back!" Blitz said, jumping onto the bed next to Dawn in jeans and a volleyball tshirt.

"Where's Carmen?" Julia asked, looking up from the book for a moment.

"I sent her on a little errand..." Blitz said with quite an evil little smirk.

"Sweet mo what did you do?" Dawn said.

...boys hallway...specifically, Hunter's room...

"Gosh what could possibly be taking so long!" Jason complained.

"I know man girls take FOREVER to frickin' get ready." Jack agreed.

"Honestly what could they possibly be doing?" Carmen said from where she appeared

in the corner.

"I don't kn-WHAT THE HECK!"

"How did you get in here!"

"Why are you here?"

"Hehe adios amigos!" Carmen said, slipping back through the shadows.

"Scared the crap out of me..." Chris said.

"You hafta admit, it was pretty clever." Hunter said.

"Shut up lover boy." Jason replied.

...girls hallway...

"HA! That's helarious!" Blitz said as Carmen retold the story.

"And they didn't even notice you?" Dawn asked, laughing.

"Not until I said anything, and I was standing there for at least dos minutos." Carmen

said.

"Boys are pretty unobservant, I'm not gonna lie." Haley said, organizing her things and

tossing a stick of chapstick into her purse. "Are we ready to go now?"

"Yup let's bounce y'all!" Alley said.

"Someone go get the guys." Stephanie said.

"I will!" Carmen said, walking down the hall and banging on the door. She opened it

without waiting for a reply.

"Come on, estamos saliendo." she said, sticking her head into the room. She gave a quick, flirty wink to the guys before turning and running down to where the other girls were. They soon collaberated and went down to the garage, where they found the keys to the cars they were to take.

"DRIVE TIME!" Blitz said, grabbing a set of keys.

"Ooooh no you don't, Blitz." Dawn said, acting as if she was approaching a wild animal. "Put the keys down, and no one get's hurt."

"No! My keys!" Blitz said, holding the keys to her chest.

"Blitz come on we don't have time!" Haley said, holding her hand out.

"Ugh. Fine." Blitz said, sighing exasperatedly and rolling her eyes. She handed the keys to Haley reluctantly.

"Ok let's split up into cars. We have 12 people and 3 cars. I'll drive one." Haley said.

"I'll drive." Luke said.

"I'll drive, too." Jason said.

"Ok, well let's split up and get going!" Haley said. The teens split up and went on their way.

...later, at the mall...

"No." Jack said, speaking for all the guys.

"C'mon guys it's just a store."

"I refuse to step foot inside that...that...sex shop!" Chris said.

"Sex shop? It's just-" Stephanie started.

"We don't care! Men are not meant to go into places like that!" Luke said.

"Oh for heaven's sake it's just Victoria's Secret." Dawn said sensibly.

"Absolutely not!" Jason said.

"Come in or face the consequences." Blitz said, narrowing her eyes and giving a very

devious smirk.

"And what would those be, huh?" Jason said, stepping up close to her.

"Well, stay outside and you'll see." she said, still smirking.

"I think we'll take our chances." Chris said, pulling Jason away from the blonde girl.

Blitz shrugged and hmphed.

"Suit yourself." Blitz and the other girls walked in. All of them.

"Are you kidding me?" Jason said.

"Well, let's find a bench and sit down. We may be here a bit." Hunter said, walking to the nearby bench and sitting down. The other guys nodded and followed him to sit down.

"Dude, I can't believe you carry her bags for her." Jason said to Luke.

"It's what good boyfriends do. Not that you would know." he said.

"That's a burn." Jack said.

"What are you implying?" Jason said.

"Well, let's see. You flirt with every girl you see, all you think about is girls, you tell us of how you easily dated 3 or 4 girls at one time-"

"Ok ok I get the picture. But that doesn't mean I wasn't a good boyfriend to them!" he countered.

"Whatever you say, dude." Luke said, shaking his head.

"Let's switch the topic, shall we?" Hunter said.

"Yea, like to when you're gonna ask Carmen out." Chris said.

"When Jason asks Blitz out." Hunter said with a smile.

"WHAT! I don't even like her-"

"Oh please you obviously flirt with her more than the others." Jack said, laughing.

"Not my fault she flirts back." Jason said, crossing his arms in a very unmanly

manner.

"Yea whatever. Dude is it me or was that Danger Room thing totally brutal?" Luke

said.

"Are you kidding me! And it was a frickin' level 2! I've never been more humiliated in

my life..." Chris said.

"Only cause you sped strait into a wall." Jack said.

"And it wouldn't have been that bad...except you were trying to show off for X23." Luke said.

"You all are losers." Chris said, pulling out his iPod and putting one headphone in.

"What we did was nothing. I saw Pyro and Scarlet Witch take on each other on a level 14." Hunter said.

"What! When was this!" Jason exclaimed.

"About midnight last night. Couldn't sleep." Hunter responded.

"What was it like?" Jack asked him.

"We're so screwed." Hunter responded. All the guys started looking a bit worried.

"People get hurt, man. Cyclops dislocated Rogue's shoulder. This is some serious training, whatever we're training for..."

Awkward silence.

More awkward silence.

"OH MY GOSH IT'S BEEN LIKE 5 YEARS!" Chris said.

"Dude, it's been like 15 minutes." Hunter responded. Just then Julia came out of the store carrying a small pink bag with "Victoria's Secret" emblazed upon the side.

"Are they done!" Chris asked excitedly.

"Nope. I was the first one out. Scoot over." Julia said, moving into a spot next to the speed demon.

"I don't get it. Why do girls have such a facination with that store?" Jack asked as he watched his sister put a bra against her shirt that obviously had nothing to do with support. He grimaced and turned away.

"It's not really a fascination. I mean, their stuff really is good. Plus they come in cute colors and patterns." Julia explained. All the guys turned to her and stared."What?"

"'Cute' doesn't seem like something you would say." Luke said.

"Maybe you should get to know me a little better, then." Julia said, looking back at them and giving a smirk.

"You mean you're not a hard-core rocker chick that wishes death upon the world?" Jason asked stupidly. Luckily Hunter noticed the stupidity and hit him in the back of the head.

"Not angry, just quiet." Julia responded, looking a little hurt at the comment.

"Anyways, Miss Understood, we're all having a movie night tonight. I assume you'll be joining us?" Chris said.

"Hey man I said I was quiet not antisocial." Julia said with a fake shocked expression. However, there was laughter in her voice.

"Well then it's settled. We'll-"

"Be going to Sears now." Stephanie interrupted.

"Sears? For what?" Jack asked.

"We're painting our rooms this weekend, remember?" Haley reminded him.

"Today we're just getting samples, though. We have hair appointments in and hour

and a half." Alley said, pulling Julia up onto her feet. "C'mon, Julz. Maybe if you move, these useless lumps will too." Alley said with a smile. The girls then proceded to walk away from the boys at an unnaturally fast pace.

"Hey guys! Wait up!" Luke called as the boys tried to gather their things and hurry after the racing females. They just laughed and walked faster. So the guys started to jog slightly after the girls. They started sprinting. And lemme tell ya, some of those girlies are pretty dern fast. Dawn, Blitz, and Julia were all in the lead, until someone failed to notice the "wet floor" sign.

Blitz, being the graceful person that she is, totally slid all over before falling. Dawn, who was right behind her, tripped over her outstretched...well, body, and literally flying over the other girl and landing hard on her butt. Julia, who foresaw the commotion, tried to stop. But it was a really wet floor and the girl never stood a chance. She slid in mid-turn and landed hard on her stomach. Dawn was sitting up, but that didn't matter when Carmen slid and crashed strait into her.

The rest of the teens followed as such:

Stephanie successfully stopped, but was soon crashed into by Luke, who was about to celebrate that he had caught up. They both fell on top of Blitz.

Jason pulled to a stop too quickly and fell flat on his back. Alley tripped over his shoulder and Jack tripped over her. They kinda started a new pile of bodies.

Haley then tripped over this new pile of bodies and landed on Blitz's pile. Hunter flipped over this pile (by accident) and landed with his legs over Carmen (not so much an accident). Chris tried to stop, but slid and flipped, landing on top of Julia.

Everyone just kind of stopped, waiting for the commotion to calm down. It was only when the dust had settled and the metaphorical birds settled back in their metaphorical trees did anyone try to move. And only from great necessity.

"Chris?" Julia said quietly.

"Yea?" he responded.

"I can't breathe." she said.

"My bad!" Chris said, rolling over to an empty section of floor.

"I feel your pain." Blitz said. After all, she had a good 3 or 4 people laying right on top of her. Then came the renewed chaos of trying to get up. Many minutes (and when I say many, I mean MANY) minutes, the 12 teens managed to upright themselves. Only then did they venture into the paint isle.

"Sweet mother of all things chocolate, look at all the COLORS!" Dawn exclaimed, looking around like a kid in a candy store. Or me in a candy store. Take your pick.

"Ok Dawn we only got about 30 minutes before we need to leave for the hair salon. Let's move it y'all!" Haley said. She's very good at organizing things.

The girls all started looking at the various colors, taking samples here and there.

"How many shades of yellow should Blitz take?" Blitz said to herself.

"ALL OF THEM!" Dawn said, running by with about 20 samples of bright greens. Blitz shrugged and started grabbing random samples of yellow.

30 minutes and way too many colors for a strait person (no offense to anyone out there...its kinda an inside joke), the teens were ready to go get haircuts. Well, the girls were at least.

But first, the boys' punishment. And oh what fun did the girls have.

"GET THAT THING OUT OF MY FACE! ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CRASH, WOMAN?" Luke exclaimed and

Stephanie showed him a metallic blue bra she had bought.

"And burn." Julia said as she too brought out her newly bought langerie for inspection. Luke simply drove a little bit faster as Jack determidely looked out the window.

...car #2...

"Stop distracting me with that...that...THING!" Jason said as Blitz showed Dawn, who was in the back seat, the white and polka dotted lace trimmed boyshort underwear she had bought.

"See, all you had to do was stand there inside the store, but nooo...you had to take the HARD way out..." Dawn said with a smirk. Jason was rather...distracted with the handling of women's undergarments around his face. Chris simply laughed. He was receiving minimal torture.

...car #3...

"Look! It came in STRIPES!" Carmen said, showing hot pants pajama bottoms to Alley, who was in the front seat. Hunter, ever being a gentleman, looked out the window and prayed to whoever was listening that they would get to the hairdressers' soon.

"I got something like that, only in a camisol. It's kinda low cut, but I tend to get warm at night." Haley said.

Hunter started praying harder.

...at the hairdressers'...finally...

"SWEET MOTHER!" Jason said, exploding out of the car as soon as it was parked.

"Oh come on it wasn't that bad." Dawn said, grabbing her purse and getting out of the car.

"Not that bad? YOU'RE A GIRL!" Luke said.

"I think I've been scarred for life..." Hunter said, staring strait ahead of him.

"COME ON HALEY'S TIRED OF LONG BLUE HAIR!" Haley said, herding everyone into the hair salon.

"I don't particularly wish to be here." Chris said as all the guys congregated in the doorway.

"Me either." Jack agreed.

"Fine. Leave. All I care about is gettin' a frickin' hair cut. Just don't take our bags." Haley said, turning around and walking up to the front counter.

"Hi, may I help you?" The girl at the counter asked.

"Yes, I'm Haley Benson. I'm here for a cut and color?" Haley said sweetly. The girl smiled and looked at the appointment book.

"Mmhmm right this way!" she said, leading Haley to a hairdresser who had bubblegum pink hair and bright blue eyes.

"Hey, I'm Sami." she said, sitting Haley down in the chair. "What do you want me to do?"

"What DON'T I want you to do!" Haley said. "I'd like about 4 inches off so it's right below my shoulders, layers, angle bangs, and a new color. What do you think?"

"I'm thinkin' purple." Sami said. Haley smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

...back at the front counter...

"Hello I'm Blitz I'm just here for a cut." Blitz said rather unspaztically as the girl came back.

The girl looked over the appointment book quickly.

"Ok Blitz, Jenn is gonna be helping you, but she's still with a costomer, if you wait for a minute, she'll be with you in a second. She's the brunette woman with the strait across bangs working with the platinum blonde." the girl pointed out Jenn to Blitz, who nodded, smiled, and sat down.

"Alrighty, next?"

"Hola, Carmen?" Carmen said. After a quick look-over, the girl nodded.

"Right this way." she led Carmen to a man wearing tight leather pants and a black shirt. He was quite tan.

"Hola chica! ¿Qué quiere Ud.?" the man asked. Carmen got excited that someone spoke Spanish in this place (even if it was a gay hairdresser...literally), and immediately rattled off what she wanted. The two spent the rest of the time conversing in Spanish.

...front counter...

"OK EVERYONE GET IN AN ORDER!" the lady yelled. A sudden rush of 7 girls isn't very happy, you see. "I'm gonna tell you who will be working with you, then you will all get a haircut and look very pretty and I'm gonna get paid extra! Ok?"There was a chorus of "ok"'s as the remaining four girls got situated.

"I have a Dawn here next. Go to the very last chair with the red-haired woman. Her name is Angelina." Dawn walked out of the line and skipped to the girl. She loves haircuts.

"Alley is going to be with Jasmine as soon as she's finished. She's the African-American woman three chairs from the end. She'll come get you when you're ready." Alley nodded and sat down.

"Stephanie and Julia will both get cuts from Lalaine, the girl with really dark brown hair and angled bangs. She's the second chair from right here. Julia is going first." the girl sighed and took a deep breath as everyone settled into their assigned places.

...hour or two later, at the mansion...with the boys...

"Dude, you are so going down." Hunter said as Link slashed at Pikachu on the

screen.

"Nu uh. Pikachu can beat Link any day!" Jason retorted as Pikachu kept trying to hit

Link.

"Then why am I beating you so bad?" Hunter replied with a smirk.

"NEVER FEAR! PEACH IS HERE!" Chris said, jumping down as a princess in a pink

dress (if you don't get it, they're playing super smash bros. melee).

"I wonder about you sometimes." Jack said as a little pink Kurby started puffing around the screen.

"I'm not the one playing as Zelda." Chris said.

"SHEIK!" Jack yelled back.

"Zelda is Sheik retard." Luke said, making Donkey Kong throw Pikachu off of the

stage.

"Oh no you didn't-" Chris said, pressing random buttons to make Pikachu come back

faster.

"Haha someone only has 2 lives left!" Hunter said as Link started going after Pikachu

again.

"You can just shut up." Chris said as the poor Pokemon got absolutely slaughtered.

"See, we need to do this more often. Without the girls." Jack said.

"How much you wanna bet Blitz could totally annihalate us in video games." Jason

said.

"Oooh thinkin' of her, eh?" Luke said with a smirk as Donkey Kong began to pulverize

Peach.

"Pssht no I just think that she would be most likely to beat our butts." Jason covered.

Or at least tried to.

"We all beat you at everything." came a female voice. The game was paused as the

guys spotted the girls standing in the doorway.

"You're back already?" Chris whined.

"Don't act so excited." Julia said, walking in and settling on a recliner.

"MELEE!" Blitz said, jumping onto the couch behind the boys.

"Toldja she'd play." Jason said.

"No you said she'd beat our butts." Luke pointed out.

"Oh heck no I suck at video games. Dawn's the one to talk to for that." Blitz said as

Dawn walked in.

"Talk to me for what...MELEE! Dude, whoever's Pikachu is getting killed." Dawn said as she evaluated the game.

"SHUT UP!" Jason said.

"Haha, you only have one life left now!" Hunter said as Link knocked Pikachu off of the edge.

"DANGIT!" Jason said.

"HERE'S PEACHY!" Chris said, attacking Donkey Kong.

"GAH! SAVE ME FROM THE PINK THING!" Luke said. Every time Donkey Kong tried to hit Peach, Toad (the nintendo one) popped out and was used as a shield. "That's just cheap!"

"TAKE THAT!" Jack yelled as Sheik started pummeling Peach.

"It's princess vs. princess!" Jason said as he tried to fight off the merciless Link.

"SHEIK!"

"WHATEVER!"

"Ok, good luck with that..." Blitz said as her and Dawn skipped out of the room. The

rest of the girls, losing interest in something as guyish as video games, had left a few minutes before then. Julia had even slipped out before then.

"AND PIKACHU MEETS AN UNTIMELY DEMISE!" Hunter yelled as Pikachu fell off of the edge again.

"Dude, you're so going down next DR session." Jason said as he crossed his arms in

a huffy way.

"And who will be next!" Hunter said as Link jumped over to join the other three living

Nintendo characters.

...a couple hours later...

"MOVIE TIME!" Dawn said, launching herself onto the couch.

"Hold on! I've almost got him!" Jason said as Pikachu hit Link once. Then Link

proceeded to absolutely annihalate him.

"No you don't." Haley said, coming in and turning off the TV and GameCube. There was a general outburst as the game disappeared.

"You guys promised a movie night and that's what we'll be doing." Alley said, standing next to Haley and placing her hands on her hips.

"We never promised a movie night..." Jack said, puzzled.

"You did now." Carmen said as she searched through a stack of DVD's.

"Oh no. We are not gonna let you all pick the movies." Chris said, super-speeding over to the stack.

"Relax. Carmen isn't gonna pick all chick flicks." Stephanie said, taking a seat on the couch after Dawn sat up on the other end. Haley came and sat between them, her now purple hair in a ponytail.

"Just 'The Notebook'." Carmen said as she tossed the movie to Alley.

"No no no! Let's watch 'Red Eye'!" Alley said.

"Notebook!"

"Red Eye!"

"Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!" Blitz said, jumping in on the action.

"Do what?" the argument stopped. Blitz shrugged.

"Soccer guys are kinda hott." she replied.

"Hunter plays soccer!" Jason said. Hunter shook his head and smacked his palm to

his forehead.

"And you wish you did. Now shut up wilst we pick a movie." Blitz replied with a smirk.

"We'll get popcorn!" Haley said, jumping off the couch and pulling Stephanie up with

her.

"OK!" Alley announced a few minutes later. Haley and Stephanie returned with a

couple bowls of popcorn. "We have made a decision! We have decided to watch Pirates of the Caribbean. No complaints or someone will get hurt."

Needless to say, everyone complied. Haley and Stephanie tried to return to their seats on the couch, only to find that they had been stolen by Chris and Jason.

"Oh no you didn't." Haley said.

"We did." Jason replied.

"On your feet, lose your seat." Chris said, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl Haley was holding. Haley rolled her eyes and settled on the floor with a few other people. Blitz came up to Jason and kicked him lightly in the leg.

"You're taking up the whole couch." she told him.

"So?" he responded. Blitz shrugged and jumped on top of Dawn.

"Well then." Dawn said, adjusting Blitz body so her bony butt wasn't poking into her thighs.

"Are you serious?" Chris asked. Both girls shrugged.

"Eh, why not?" Dawn said, then turned to face the screen.

"This is gonna be a long movie..." Jack whispered to himself.

...the next day...

"PAINT DAY!" Blitz yelled as her and Dawn skipped back into the house, carrying

buckets of paint and bags of painters tape and brushes.

"How can they have that much energy?" Jack said, dragging his feet.

"Because we didn't stay up to 3 a.m. playing video games." Alley said sensibly.

"Jason was determined to beat Hunter." Chris said.

"And did he?" Haley asked.

"Frankly, no."

"I WAS CLOSE!" Jason yelled.

"No you weren't." Hunter responded.

"No, no I wasn't..."

"Well, come on, let's get painting!" Carmen said, leading the group up the stairs. The

girls followed as the guys walked a bit slower.

"Anyone here not happy that they didn't buy paint?" Chris asked. No one answered.

"Sweet. Video games anyone?" Jason asked.

"NO!" was the unanimous response.

...an hour later...

"PUMP IT!"

"LOUDAH!"

"PUMP IT!"

"LOUDAH!"

"PUMP IT!"

"LOUDAH!"

"TURN UP YA RADIO!"

"BLAST YA STEREO RIIIIIIIIIIGHT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"

"What in the name..." Luke asked as he made his way to Stephanie's room. He

slowly opened the door to what he believed was Dawn's room. He was met with the sight of a basically perfectly painted room (it was a greenish color) with all of the furniture in the middle. A stereo was placed on the bookshelf. Dawn and Blitz were basically spazzing out to the Black Eyed Peas "Pump It." Blitz was jumping around and Dawn was breakin' it down.

"You know, I don't wanna know anymore..." Luke said as he closed the door and continued down the hall. He found the right door, but was roughly pulled in before he could knock.

"What the heck?" he asked as he stumbled into the room.

"I didn't want anyone to see you come in, silly!" Stephanie said. "You'll be helping me paint."

she added, brandishing a pair of paint rollers.

"Aww, no-"

"Yes. It'll be fun! C'mon!" Stephanie insisted, thrusting a paintbrush into his hand.

Luke sighed but complied, taking the roller.

"You owe me for this." he said, opening up the can of soft gold paint and pouring some in.

Stephanie just shrugged and the two went to work on the first wall. Up, down. Roll, roll. Rollin' rollin' rollin', though the streams are swollen, keep them doggies rollin', rawhide...

Ahem, anyways...By the time the pair had gotten to the third wall, they were just a little bit tired of painting. However, that's when things got interesting.

"You just got paint on my hand." Stephanie said.

"No I didn't." Luke answered, still painting.

"Yes you did." Stephanie insisted, placing her hands on her hips. The roller, still in her

hand, got gold paint on her jeans.

"No I didn't, but you just got paint on your jeans." Luke said. She looked so shocked that Luke could only laugh. That is, until she ran the roller from his face to his waist. He gave her a look that said, in the words of Blitz, 'Oh no you didn't.'

"Oh. It's on, now." Luke said, brandishing his paint roller as a sword.

"Hit me with your best shot, hott stuff." Stephanie replied. Luke smirked, then quickly plunged his hand into the paint. He then flicked his hand at Stephanie, covering her in many gold dots. Stephanie then attacked with the roller again, rolling everywhere she could reach, be it hair, chest, back, or legs. They were both covered with paint on their upper bodies when Luke got a brilliant idea. Being a man, he simply grabbed Stephanie around the waist and lifted her over his shoulder.

"Ha HA! What now?"

"THIS!" Stephanie reached her paint-covered hand down, placing it square on his butt. She pulled it away so that there was a large, gold handprint on Luke's jeans. He dropped her and twisted his body to see the hand print.

"Makes them kinda cute, I'm not gonna lie." Stephanie said as she admired her artwork.

"Oh, that's it." Luke grabbed Stephanie around the waist and was putting a handprint

on her jeans when...

"WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE!" a voice yelled. The teens, in a very compromising position, looked at Logan. "C'mon, you two. We're gonna see the Professor about this little...mess!" Logan said. Luke and Stephanie looked at each other, with matching scared expressions. He slowly grabbed her hand as they walked down the hall.

"WHOA! SEXY JEANS, STEPH!" Blitz yelled as they walked by. Dawn laughed at the two. Logan glared.

'This doesn't look good...' Luke thought as they made their way down to the lower levels.

------------

well, that's the end of chapter four! hope you liked it. in the next chapter, the kids find out exactly what they're fighting against. and it doesn't end very happy.

if you have ideas or anything, send 'em on in! i'm runnin low. also, i need a few characters to make up the new bhood and acolytes. no more than 5 or so, it's hard enough to keep track of the 12 we have. however, it will be at least another chapter before we meet them.

hollas:

jamie-skellington: you know, a race sounds mighty interesting...hmm... :)

yaya bitchy fish: blitz pretty much is me on a sugar high...only in a prettier form. do you have advice for taking it 'one oc at a time'?

rogueforareason: aww thanks muffin! hope you liked this one!

bant: THANKS! i love your enthusiasm. it makes me happy.

well, y'all, review! hope everyone enjoyed this!


	5. Project RUN AWAY!

**hey guys! sorry for suuuuuuuuuuuuuch a long wait! major ADD and super **

**super busy-ness. but here is chapter 5, which i revised about 20 times, **

**and i hope you enjoy it! **

**-----**

**-Chapter 5: Project RUN AWAY!-**

"While I am glad you two were having a good time decorating your room,"

the Professor began (Logan growled). "you both seemed to have made a

massive mess. As your punishment, you must clean the room, as well as the

Danger Room for a week."

"One week, Chuck?!" Logan exclaimed.

"One Week, Logan." the Professor replied in that ever-calm voice of

his. "You are both dismissed."

Luke and Stephanie guiltily walked up the stairs and to their separate

rooms. As Stephanie was walking back, she heard a slight whisper.

"Steph! C'mere!" Stephanie turned and saw Haley motioning her into her

room. Upon arrival, she was met with the entire girl population of the

Institute. All 6 of them.

"What happened?"

"Why did you get in trouble?"

"Logan caught you!"

"What's your punishment?"

"What were you doing?"

"EVERYONE QUIET!" Haley yelled over the mass of questions. "What we are

all meaning to say is: What exactly happened that you and Luke got in

trouble with Logan?"

"Well..." Stephanie began.

"SPILL GIRL SPILL!" Blitz said, ever loud and impatient.

"Ok ok. So he was helping me paint my room..."

...boys hallway...

Luke was walking down the hallway back to his room. Suddenly, he was

pulled roughly into Jason's room. Only a couple of the guys were there.

"Deja vu..." Luke said to himself.

"Dude. What the heck happened?" Jason asked.

"Yea. We could hear Logan yelling all the way down here." Chris added.

"I got caught with my hand on her butt." Luke said, really wanting to

get to his room.

"WHAT?" Chris exclaimed. Luke sighed and began telling his sorrowful

little tale.

...early October, English class...

"All right, munchkins," Wanda began, passing out a two pages stapled

together.

"Hey! I'm taller than you!" Chris called back to her.

"Not when I'm wearing my boots, Mr. Jameson." Wanda replied.

"That is true." Chris said, nodding and taking his packet.

"We're starting a new project today, class." Wanda continued, walking

back to the front of the classroom with her own copy of the packet. "I

figured, since you all have been here for a couple months now, you must

be missing home or families. Maybe just your friends. And so, I have

decided that I would like you all to write a paper and prepare a

presentation on what you miss most about your home, town, or life. This is your rubric, as well as some examples for things you can think of. If you have any questions, you can ask me." Wanda finished, walking around and sitting at her desks to start grading the prompts that the teens had written the day before. Her grading, however, was interupted by her twin rounding the corner into the room. Pietro stopped, composing himself, before super-speeding over to Wanda. He whispered something very quietly and very fast, so the teens had no idea what he had said. When he finished, Wanda rolled her eyes, muttering something along the lines of "I hate life" before getting up and following her brother out.

"I need all of you to go to the rec room right now. Professor Xavier

will explain to you what's going on there." Wanda called as she walked

towards the elevator that led to the Danger Room. The teens all looked at each other, confused a bit at what to do. Jack shrugged and stood up.

"Well," he said. "shouldn't we be going then?"

There was a general consensus as the entire class made there way to the

rec room, where the Professor was already waiting for them.

"Professor, what's going on?" Alley asked.

"Everyone, if you would please sit down, I will explain everything.

There is no need to get nervous or excited." the Professor said.

"Nervous? Why would anyone get nervous? I mean, that's just absurd..."

Stephanie said, jiggling her foot from her position on the couch. Luke

put a hand on her knee to stop her. The Professor simply smiled and

pointed a remote at a projector that many just noticed was there. He

clicked said remote, pulling up a picture of a large metal robot.

"This is a Sentinal." Xavier said. "They were built many years ago by a

man named Trask. They are designed to hunt down and terminate mutant

signatures. The reason your classes have been cancelled for today is

because we have caught signals of these Sentinals awakening in south

eastern Canada."

"We don't hafta fight them, do we?!" Jason asked, suddenly not so

excited about life.

"No, no, no." the Professor said. "The senior X-men are going to go and

make sure these Sentinals do not find and destroy any innocent mutants.

You, however, are going to stay here. I have the lesson plans for the

rest of your classes for you to work on while your teachers are away on

this mission. You are all dismissed." he finished. Before the teens had

a chance to ask any questions, the Professor calmly wheeled his way out

of the room, leaving the menacing picture of the Sentinal glaring from

the wall.

"Anyone in favor of pretending our teachers aren't facing impending

doom and working on our English project due in a week?" Chris said.

Everyone responded with an "aye."

"I miss so many things from home!" Blitz said, crashing on the couch.

"Yea, I bet." Alley said as the rest of the group filed into the living

room.

"Like Tex-Mex. I would kill for some Chuy's right now." Blitz

continued.

"Or Freebird's." Dawn added.

"OH MY GOSH YES! And EZ's." Blitz responded.

"Oh yea! Oh gosh and Habana's." Dawn said.

"Or Razoo's." Blitz replied.

"Oh my gosh Rudy's..." Dawn said.

"Jamba Juice." Blitz added.

"You did not just say that..." Dawn said, covering her ears.

"Don't you notice all you're saying is food places?" Jason asked.

However, his question fell on deaf ears.

"But you know what I REALLY miss?" Blitz said, looking at Dawn.

"Oh, don't say it." Dawn said.

"I think you know what I'm gonna say."

"PLEASE don't say it!"

"That's right. Taco Shack." Blitz said with a smile.

"UGH! That's it! Where's that jet! We're flying to Texas!" Dawn yelled,

throwing her hands up into the air.

"Yea. At least it's warm there." Blitz said with a sad look on her

face. The morning news caster had informed the group that it was officially starting to get cooler outside.

"I know what you mean." Alley replied.

"Yea." Jack continued. "I'm not sure there really is a winter in

Phoenix."

"There is in New York City." Julia said quietly.

"Not in Puerto Rico." Carmen said. "Ochenta y dos por todo el año."

"There's some in Cameron." Haley said a little quiet. As the

conversation continued, the teens seemed to realize how different their home was now that they were in Bayville instead of anywhere else.

"We definately get winter in Pittsburgh." Hunter added to the list.

That's right, they were talking about weather. It's a perfectly normal

thing to miss.

"We don't really in Orlando." Chris put in his two cents.

"Sacramento is kinda half-and-half." Jason stated.

"There's definately winter in Detroit." Luke said.

"I hope it snows here." Stephanie added. Another minute of silence.

"I'm feeling a road trip. Dawn, care to search planlessly for Tex-Mex?"

Blitz said, jumping up from the couch arm where she had stationed

herself.

"But of course! And I'm driving." Dawn said with an air of finality,

jumping up as well. The two ran off to the garage, not waiting for anyone

else.

"You think they'll realize that they're probably not allowed to go out

right now?" Luke asked rhetorically.

"Eh, Xavier'll never know." Jason said, waving a hand like it didn't

matter.

"Oh, yea. It's real easy to be sneaky around a telepath." Haley said,

rolling her eyes.

"I wanna do something too. What's Phoenix-y?" Alley said, turning to

her twin.

"I dunno. Why are you looking at me like that?" Jack replied, turning

his identical eyes to his twin.

"C'mon, Jack! We haven't done a twin thing in a long time!" Alley said,

pulling on his arm. Maybe with a little more strength than intended.

"Ow, ow! Ok, fine, we'll do a twin thing!" Jack said. Alley gave a look

that clearly said "my bad" before running off after the two Texans.

"Check ya later, guys." Jack said, following Alley at a slower pace.

"You wanna go into the city?" Luke asked Stephanie after a moment.

"It's no Detroit, but..."

"Yea, that'd be fun. Lemme go grab my jacket, and I'll meet you in the

garage." Stephanie said, running off to her room. After a brief "later"

Luke was making his way to the garage. There was more silence. Chris

glanced over to Julia, who met his gaze.

"Don't look at me," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not up for

coupling up today."

"No, it's just..." Chris started. "I thought that you were from the

city. I bet Luke and Steph wouldn't mind taking you with 'em."

"I've got nothing to be attached to in the city." Julia said quietly.

"Besides, the third wheel is about the most awkward position for

someone, especially me, to be in. So I'm gonna go wallow in my room for a while." she said, getting up and walking towards the stairs.

"I'll go with you. I need to call my family." Carmen said, getting up

after her.

"Wallowing sounds good to me too." Haley said, taking her hand out of

her purple hair and following the other two girls up to the girls' wing.

"Dude, you should probably give up on that one." Jason said to Chris.

"Just cause I ask a question doesn't mean I like her like that." Chris

responded.

"Well Hunter asks Carmen questions and he likes her." Jason retorted.

"I asked for a pencil. Get over yourself." Hunter replied, possibly

just a little too quickly.

"Well you conveniently ignored the new package in your backpack." Jason

fought back.

"She had a mechanical one. I like those better."

"Oh, give it up."

"Fine. If anyone needs me, I'm going outside." Hunter said, walking

towards his room.

"Door's the other way." Jason called to his retreating back. Hunter

chose not to answer, leaving the front door a few moments later with a

blue and silver Nike soccer ball under one arm and silver cleats slung

over one shoulder.

"Ok then." Jason said. "So...whatcha gonna do?"

"I dunno." Chris replied. "I'm kinda hungry. I kinda wanna go get some

Wendy's."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Jason said, getting up.

"When did this become a 'we'?"

"When I decided that I'm bored, and you're bored, so we might as well

be bored while getting Wendy's."

"Sounds good to me." Chris said with a shrug, getting up after Jason.

One hour later, everyone was still in the same positions they had been

before. Except for one. Carmen had called her brother, mother, aunt,

cousin, and best friend all in one hour. They still had lives, it seems. So, she went to the solace of her iPod and went to see if anyone was anywhere in the house. She found a few people in their rooms (by popping in by way of shadows, of course), and assumed the others were still out. Carmen had a thought. She rushed down to the kitchen, stopping and bracing herself on the doorway.

"Empty kitchen..." she whispered, looking around the gloriously (empty)

space. She smiled and rushed in, setting her idea into motion. 20

minutes later, she was happily on her way to making and eating a rather

large empanada, dancing to the music still blasting through her earphones. It wasn't until after she had danced like Beyonce and shimmied like that one guy on My Super Sweet 16 that she noticed Hunter was standing in the doorway. He had apparently been outside running or something, cause his fringe was sticking to his forehead by way of sweat. His sudden appearance, though, startled Carmen, causing her to jump rather close to the stove. Which led to the back of her shirt, which rode up a little during her dancing, to not be where it was needed. Which led to her getting a burn shaped like a line right on her lower back, just above the waistband of her jeans.

"OH!" was all she managed to get out between spotting Hunter and the

burn. Hunter immediately rushed to her, quick with apologies and "are you ok?"'s. Carmen waved him off.

"I'm ok, I'm fine. You just startled me a bit." Carmen explained,

taking out the headphones and putting the iPod on the counter.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Hunter asked again.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. No te preoccupes." she said again, turning back to

the stove. She realized it was the pan that cooked the meat that had

burned her, considering the stove had been turned off a few minutes

before. She poked the empanada in the deep frier a couple times, making sure the whole thing was cooking.

"What are you making?" Hunter asked casually, taking out a bottle of

water from the fridge and sitting down on a bar stool.

"Empanadas. You want one?"

"Want a what?"

"Empanada."

"...What's that?"

"It's kind of like deep fried ravioli. Only bigger. And better. And not

made out of pasta. And caribbean. Ok, so maybe it's not so much like

ravioli, but you get the idea. I'll make you one."

"No, I'm fi-"

"Nonsense. I'm a crazy Puerto Rican with too much time. You're getting

an empanada." she insisted, going about loading up another one. Hunter,

unsure of how to deal with a 'crazy Puerto Rican' (or what an empanada

was) was left to sit and watch as she cooked. 10 minutes later, she was

situated in the bar stool next to him, happily munching on the treat,

burn on her back (which was exposed due to the fact that she was

sitting) long forgotten. Hunter just enjoyed the free food. 5 minutes after that, Chris and Jason walked in and saw them. Jason didn't say anything then, but Hunter knew the teasing would come later. Oh, well. He's just jealous.

"WE'RE HOOOOOOOOME!" came another voice. Blitz.

"AND WE SMELL FOOD!" one more. Dawn.

"CARMEN'S MAKING EMPANADAS IN THE KITCHEN!" Carmen called to the girls,

jumping up and going to make more food. Literally half a second later,

Dawn and Blitz were both stationed on bar stools on either side of

Hunter.

"Gotta make it quick, Car," Blitz said.

"Yea, the game's fixin' to start." Dawn added.

"What game?" Hunter asked.

"DUH! UT VERSUS A and M!" Blitz yelled, whipping off her burnt orange

sweatshirt to reveal another burnt orange tshirt, the words "ROSE BOWL

CHAMPIONS" emblazed across it with a longhorn symbol and roses.

"Football?" Chris asked, coming into the kitchen. "Food?"

"Definately to both." Dawn said. Soon enough, food had been made and

Dawn and Blitz were in the living room watching the game with the rest of the teams.

"I still think Vince Young should've stayed at UT." Dawn was saying.

"Nonsense. He's being baller in the pros." Blitz replied.

"Yea, but now UT isn't as good."

"They're good enough."

2 hours later, Blitz discovered that perhaps she was wrong.

"WHAT?!" the girls yelled as the game ended.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" Blitz yelled angrily.

"I think I'm going to be depressed for the rest of the day." Dawn said,

still sitting on the couch.

"HOW COULD THEY LOSE?!" Blitz continued to rant. The rest of the teens,

unaffected by the game, got up to go and procrastinate some more before

working on school work. The movement was interrupted by a cell phone

blaring a ring tone version of Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack". Blitz

grimaced.

"That's Nichole, isn't it." Dawn said.

"Yup. This is gonna be rough. Hello?" Blitz answered. "Yea, I know they

won...Yea, I was watching...Yea, I know that means you won...Uh

huh...I'LL GET YOU THE FLIPPIN' COKE WHEN I GET A CHANCE, ALRIGHT?! GET OFF MY BACK!...yea, you know I was just kidding...no, I'll really give it to you...uh huh...uh huh...DefinatelY! Me and Dawn will three way you later...yea...ok check ya later, homie." she hung up.

"That was...interesting." Luke said, looking at Jack.

"Yea. I'm gonna go now." Jack replied as the group filed out of the

room. Just as they entered the foyer to cross over to the stairway,

however, their trip was interrupted by Pietro bursting through the doors.

"Someone-go-get-Mr.-McCoy-quick!-His-lab-is-next-to-the-Danger-Room."

He said quickly before running back outside in superspeed.

"I'm on it!" Carmen said, literally diving into the shadow behind a

door. A couple seconds later, she popped back out, pulling a blue gorilla by the hand.

"Hello, I'm Dr. McCoy." he said amicably, waving to the group. "I hear

there's some emergency?"

"Yea, Doctor." Jean said, running in. Scott was close behind her.

"Piotr's coming with Wanda now."

As she spoke, Colossus walked through the door, carrying a limp Wanda

in his arms. John and Pietro were both running around him like gnats,

trying to see if she was going to be ok.

"Oh my stars and garters." Dr. McCoy said. "Quick, let's get her down

to the Med Bay."

It was all a flurry of activity, and the teens had trouble keeping up

with what was going on. Not wanting to get in the way of anything, they

kept quiet and close to the wall. Once Wanda was out of sight, Jason

pounced on a passing Rogue.

"Rogue! What happened?" he asked. The rest of the group came closer to

hear.

"Well, Wanda -- Remy! Remy, come back here! Urgh, dumb Swamp Rat..."

She started to tell the story, but Remy had passed by quickly, looking

rather upset. She chased him down to the Med Bay.

"UGH! WHAT HAPPENED?" Jack exclaimed.

"Long story short, Wanda got hurt pretty badly on the mission. And Remy

thinks that it was his fault. That's all you need to know for now."

Kitty said as she too took off towards the basement.

The teens stood in the eerily empty foyer, stunned.

"This is so hardcore."

**-----**

**Whoa there! Trouble!**

**Again, I am so sorry for such a long wait. It's been rough trying to **

**pump this story out. I do have the next chapter planned and some future **

**scenes in my mind, so be ready!**

**holla's:**

**Rogueforareason: I'm not tellin you nothin, sister. ;)**

**Yay for Me: thank you so much for the advice! I'll definately try and **

**space it out a little more.**

**RomyGirl123: here you go!**

**bant: thank you so so much!**

**-----**

**ok everyone, so there you go! and if you have anything you would like **

**to see happen, let me know. if you want a cameo as well, i could use a **

**coupld of them, such as a visitor or a friend on the phone or something. talk to me! here's a teaser for the next chapter...**

**"She's stable, but it's all up in the air right now..."**

**"Time for check-ups!..."**

**"LUVS I'M HOME!..."**

**"He thinks it's all his fault. I can't even get him to talk to me right **

**now..."**

**"I want you to infiltrate the Xavier mansion..."**

**"Why is he in your room? And why are you undressed like that?!"**

**ooooooh yessssss...what's gonna happen? find out next time in: **

**Visitations.**

**and, by request, here are the sparknotes on each Junior X-man, **

**including name, power, and where they're from.**

**Girls:**

**Julia Shear - Absorbing - from New York City, New York**

**Alley Lewis - Super Strength - from Phoenix, Arizona**

**Melanie Rosebrook, aka Blitz - Electricity - from Austin, Texas**

**Dawn Thompson - she can create fire by snapping/control fire - from **

**Austin, Texas**

**Carmen Baez - can travel through shadows - from Dorado, Puerto Rico**

**Haley Benson - telepathy/telekinesis - from Cameron, North Carolina**

**Stephanie Wardlow - turns into a "ghost" - from Detroit, Michigan**

**Boys:**

**Jack Lewis - control weather - from Phoenix, Arizona**

**Chris Jameson - super speed - from Orlando, Florida**

**Jason McMannis - can find and project a person's fears - from **

**Sacramento, California**

**Luke DeWenson - project beams from hands - from Detroit, Michigan**

**Hunter Breaux - matches backgrounds, like a chameleon - from **

**Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania**

**voila! peace, love, and chocolate!**

**check y'all later!**


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